SNAKE SUPER HEALTH Podcast

Episode 8: “Looksmaxxing”Hello.EIGHTH episode of Snake Super Health the POD: a discussion on health for people interested in its edge—nutrition, red light, lifting, musculature, face yoga, pullover exercises, calisthenics, strength, raw dairy, energy, orange juice, black seed oils—but who don’t live there. Or who do. Or people who are normal. Or who aren’t. Subscribe on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, rate and review. On this episode…I (Snake) talk with my co-host Josh Feola about “looksmaxxing”—the maybe real movement that’s two years old and which we define as a series of exogenous interventions for superficial math-based beauty. We find it to be more honest than most other forms of dark wellness. Are we not all looksmaxxers? Do we not all love our mirror? Is it wrong for a 20 year old child to be so vain? Listen to the episode, and Follow @SnakeSuperHealth on InstagramFollow my ass here @snakesuperhealthShow Notes0:00: Intro; Clav’s month on top1:00: Is looksmaxxing… Lindy?1:30: The wrestling aspect3:00: The definition: exogenous intervention-biased approach to use data/math to solve superficial problems4:00: Is Looksmaxxing just pre-mass monster-era bodybuilding? Is Clavicular a lazy Steve Reeves?5:00: Face smashing works: see, Muay Thai shin development6:30: Camille Paglia and Clavicular agree on this ONE thing7:30: OK. Is it real? (Can’t say what “it” is)8:00: SMV as a hack to not flirt…9:00: How all fitness YouTube content got aimed at teenagers10:00: The fellas talk Chan boards and explain incel humor11:00: Society loves hotties; short skull shape discussion12:30: Looksmaxxing as health sans utilitarianism, sans positivity15:00: Does the looksmaxxing math create a bland standard of beauty? (Yes)16:00: Is LM’s willed sterility, as a result of too much exogenous test, a failure of racist action?17:00: Is LM just how it is for broads?17:30: Is LM autosexuality?18:00: Is Clavicular post-political? (Pro vaccine, pro seed oils, pro test, anti "subhuman JD Vance)21:00: Do you have to be a day trader or looksmaxxer to hack adulthood?22:30: Is Clav Attia butb without the double talk?24:00: Mishima, looksmaxxing and the age of slop25:00: Josh’s One for the Road: Too Much Tai Chi and extreme rootedness27:00: Sami’s One for the Road: Hockey, Phil Kessel as tai chi master29:00: Movement vs static health: A beautiful face in pics, or moving well?30:00: Posture as anomalous beautyReading list:Clav profiles/media:* Handsome at Any Cost by Joseph Bernstein for the New York Times* ‘Looksmaxxing’ Reveals the Depth of the Crisis Facing Young Men by TC Williams for the Atlantic (big one forthcoming I think)* Inside Clavicular’s Thirsty Tour of New York City by Kieran Press-Reynolds for GQ * Adam Friedland episode; Matan episode* Clav on vaccines, seed oils, seed oil research, JD Vance* Looksmaxxing and death by h_miller76; Gossip Goblin videoRest:* Steve Reeves shake* Mass Monsters on BarBend* Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia* Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima* Sam Kriss on maxxing* Too much Tai Chi (X thread); Master Ding, Tai Chi, London* Phil Kessel fastest skater; stories of Phil Kessel only eating cheeseThanks for listening. Like and subscribe please. SAMI REISS Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe

Episode 7: PeptidesHello. SEVENTH episode of Snake Super Health the POD, a discussion on health for people interested in its edge—nutrition, red light, lifting, musculature, face yoga, foot yoga, no other types of yoga—but who are otherwise NORMAL. Or who aren’t. Whatever. Subscribe on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts.On this episode…I (Snake) talk with my co-host Josh Feola about the recent spate of mainstream reportage on esoteric peptide usage, these drugs’ Chinese supply chain, whether they’re street drugs, whether they represent something new outright, whether they’re dangerous, which ones people are doing, their evolution out of the gym into the youth world, and how hard it is to find reliable, granular information on these drugs. Follow Snake Super Health on InstagramFollow my ass here @snakesuperhealthShow Notes0:00: Intro—reporting on peptides01:00: What are peptides?01:30: Times story on Silicon Valley peptides, NY Mag story, FT story about supply chain2:30: Peptides as a true… widget3:00: The pharma roots of Chinese peptides4:10: A water-cooler definition of peptides5:30: NYMag story: the youth demand, and the lack of regulation7:00: Brigham Buhler and the Rogan-world peptide head’s case for regulation9:00: Is taking Peptides just looksmaxxing? And is looksmaxxing… Lindy?10:00: What might regulation look like?11:00: Vanity is Lindy; living forever… is not12:00: Possible benefits of acute, casual peptide use13:00: Compounding pharmacy vs. the Chinese WhatsApp route14.00: Is distrust of Chinese markets Sinophobia?15:00: Are peptides… probably fine?16:00: The Chinese bias and Western bias against injections19:00: Moving from gym and skincare sickos to gen pop…21:00: Is a pill GLP-1 a transformative tech?24:00: Peptides as supplement vs. street drug27:00: Everyone’s on the take28:00: Peptides as time saver; health without being a healthy person29:00 Josh one for the road: Sean Geiger’s History of Oral Peptides:34:00: Sami one for the road: Bulgarian ZerchersReading list:* Life on Peptides Feels Amazing By Ezra Marcus for NY Mag* ‘Chinese Peptides’ Are the Latest Biohacking Trend in the Tech World by Jasmine Sun for NY Times* Jasmine Sun’s China Talk Peptides interview with Hamilton Morris (YT) * ‘I wouldn’t dare take these drugs’: how China supplies untested peptides to the west by Eleanor Olcott for FT* Can Ozempic Cure Addiction? by Dhruv Khullar (MD) for The New Yorker* Brigham Buhler on Rogan (YouTube)* 10 Zercher variations (YT)* Peptides in Snake Super Health* History of Oral Peptides by Sean Geiger* Factories in Shenzhen by Peter Hessler for the New Yorker* Vice News fake sneaker factory capital story (YT)* “Needle Up My Cock” by GG Allin (R.I.P.)Thanks for listening. More to come ALWAYS. SAMI REISS Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe

Hello.Shabbat is over. EMERGENCY/quick turnaround episode of Snake Super Health the POD (hosted by Sami Reiss and Josh Feola) covering Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the HHS’s new food pyramid, looking at the grub on the pyramid, its context in esoteric health, the credentialed and media reaction, strengths and weaknesses with the pyramid and what it might mean for the food MARKETPLACE and POLICY. We have some positive and negative thoughts on the pyramid and am worried regarding how it might be wielded against people who don’t conform with the choices of dark health. Listen to the pod for the whole 411. About the PodSnake Super Health Podcast is a health discussion for people interested in severe alleyways of health—nutrition, red light, lifting, musculature, face yoga, foot yoga, no other types of yoga—who are otherwise NORMAL. Episode is hosted by Snake Super Health founder Sami Reiss and Josh Feola. Subscribe on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts.Want an article on this?Follow Snake Super Health on InstagramFollow my ass here @snakesuperhealth Show Notes00:01: actual wisdom (source 1h25)01:00: Intro01:30: Framing the rollout: praise from dark nutrition heads, and the critique 2:00: RFK Jr’s career and credentialism vs. the diet itself2:45: Is RFK Jr. cherry-picking his science?3:30: Dark-horse support from… the American Medical Association?5:00: Ultimately this is a lifter’s diet….6:00: The source-pleasing behavior of immediate critical reporting on this diet7:00: Similarities between this diet and Michelle Obama’s proposed diet8:00: The guidelines themselves10:00: Can the feds affect food policy?11:00: Is this diet esoteric? 12:00: Does anyone give a s**t about the food pyramid?14:00: What’s missing?15:00: Will Peaters like this list?16:00: Legislating health, social credit and whether governments might deny health care to people who eat Takis17:00: What does this list mean for SNAP?18:00: Is this list influenced by the market or will it influence the market?19:00: The shocking/old ways of low cholesterol/low sodium diets20:00: Expect more b******t protein and people getting fat off lamb21:00: A Pyrrhic victory23:00: Josh: One for the Road: Cabbage24:00: Snake: One for the Road: Yosuke NWN muscle-ups Reading list:* The pyramid itself* Realfood.gov* The fact sheet* The 90-page report; 400 page appendix* Initial NY Times’ reporting on the matter; Vox analysis* Praise/critique from demon health influencers: Saladino, Nippard, Huberman* A critical analysis of Social Credit in China * Pinterest trend predictions for 2026 (PDF; cabbage)* The Biggest Food Trends of 2026, From Fibermaxxing to Cabbage-Core (Food and Wine)* NWN muscle-ups in Finland (and more) and pull-ups in general* The Vegetarian power dietThanks for listening. Subscribe if you like what you hear and see. SAMI REISS Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe

Hello.FIFTH episode of Snake Super Health the POD, a health discussion for people interested in severe alleyways of health—nutrition, red light, lifting, musculature, face yoga, foot yoga, no other types of yoga—who are otherwise NORMAL. Subscribe on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts. On this episode…The Mike Israetel dramaOn today’s episode, I chat with my friend and COHOST Josh Feola and my friend, Miguel Rivera, PhD, about the Mike Israetel “drama” and ramifications. Who’s Mike Israetel? What happened? Why does it matter? Well, he’s a lifter. It’s dramatic but an important example of how strength and health gets discussed in professional circles. Here’s a short synopsis from an earlier Open Secrets post:In October, Solomon Nelson, an Australian law student and lifting content creator, reviewed a doctoral thesis by Mike Israetel, a massively popular science-based lifting content creator and talking head (he was on Citarella’s show recently). After a close-reading of Mike’s thesis on the E. Tenn State archive, Israetel’s degree-granting institution, Nelson published a YouTube video detailing the impossible statistics, wrong data figures, numerous errors/copy-pastes, bad citations, 200 typos… etc., in the document, and also claimed the work had an unoriginal contribution to Israetel’s academic field, and that he should not be considered an academic anymore. (The thesis, published in 2013, was titled “The Interrelationships of Fitness Characteristics in Division 1 Athletes.”) Israetel immediately said Nelson reviewed a mistakenly uploaded rough draft, and offered a different one, but walked that defense back after the new upload was found to have current metadata. Other events occurred in the lifting world, but they’re less important for this discussion than this initial exchange. Israetel is best known as the “exercise scientist critiques actor/celebrity’s workout” guy; he also founded Renaissance Periodization in 2013, which is a science-based lifting template/business, whose calorie tracking app I reviewed here. (I also wrote more in-depth updates on the drama in October.)I chat with Miguel, of Paradox Newsletter to get a better look at the nuts and bolts of doctoral theses in general—how the research works, how to define “new knowledge” in a field, and whether Israetel’s thesis in question is novel or not— and Josh and I bookend this discussion with a look at Israetel’s work, study design in lifting “sciences”, and the extent to which strength training be studied scientifically. And whether YouTubers can be scientists. More about the PhD, less about the nuts and bolts of lifting. Show Notes:1:00: Intro, catch-up on Israetel and Nelson3:30: Credentialism in health: What does an advanced degree mean?4:30: The PhD to influencer pipeline: Peterson… Israetel? 5:00: Is the appeal to authority to sell something to health consumers… new? (Dr. Oz)6:30: Is science based lifting’s obsession with efficiency lazy, or helpful for working people? 7:30: Can specific lifting advice be advanced through short-term studies? How much does exercise variance matter? 9:10: Are there fundamental process issues with exercise science? (Double-blind; lack thereof; no placebos…) 10:00: Academia’s focus on running vs. lifting: One is natural, one is a skill12:00: The journalistic and influencer oversimplification of progressive overload.13:30: Interview with Miguel Rivera, PhD begins; Miguel’s history, and work 16:30: Are shoddy drafts common for PhD theses? 17:00: What does a PhD thesis demonstrate? (Adding a tiny point outside the circle of the field of knowledge) 19:00: Polish in drafts (PhD theses are not shoddy like this)20:30: The ad-hoc nature, and variable writing quality, of PhD thesis work24:40: Choosing a thesis subject: How it relates to a book26:30: The roughness and growing pains of newer fields of study, like exercise science29:00: “This isn’t a Mike Israetel problem, this is an exercise science problem”—Prof. Anthony Campitelli30:00: Why is academic writing like that? Buttoned up… 33:00: Praise for the adversarial nature of peer review34:00: PhD as a union card: A degree is never enough to confer authority. The work must be authoritative. 35:30: Can vernacular work be recognized academically? end Miguel interview 37:00: Josh’s take: Is exercise science just a young field?39:00: Dings against Mike40:00: Exercise Scientist Critiques Workout Plan = devil s**t41:00: “Post Physique” as lifting world peer review… 42:00: How much do results matter for people prescribing work? (Taking bodybuilding advice from a failed bodybuilder)43:00: The long tradition of grifting and health: Are better doctors the answer? 45:00: One for the road (Josh): Crispr fungus protein: Gene edits… high protein edible fungus in China. 47:00: China’s war on the obesity crisis—and the EU’s 51:00: One for the road (Snake): Physiological hygiene: working out every day instead of 3x a week 52:00: Why is lifting so obsessed with limiting volume and movement? Shouldn’t untrained people move in some way every day? Selected reading/viewing:* Mike Israetel’s PhD thesis* Solomon Nelson’s critique of Mike’s thesis (original video; worth watching, and response)* Mike’s response (since redacted) and his apology* Internet Anarchist’s critique of Mike’s thesis; Reddit PhD discussion; Coach Greg’s videos on Mike (1, 2…. there are hundreds. I love this guy)* Miguel’s Substack* CRISPR Fungus: Protein-Packed, Sustainable, and Tastes Like Meat- Crop Biotech Update* Physiological hygiene: a minimalistic, normal way to train (& how to select for volume), further discussion in this post:Thanks for listening.SAMI REISS Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy everyone: FOURTH episode of Snake Super Health pod with hosts Sami Reiss and Josh Feola. Today’s episode focuses on beef. Is it over? The pod is a discussion for people interested in severe alleyways of health—nutrition, red light, lifting, musculature, face yoga, foot yoga, no other types of yoga—who are otherwise normal. Listen here or on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.Episode 4:SNAP cuts and beefMore in depth: we chat about SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) cuts during the government shutdown and the discussion around that— runaway beef prices, and whether beef is over for low-income individuals. Might beef actually be a health food? Might this be… lost in the nutrition discussion? Is there anything to be done about factory farming, besides going vegan (for the animals)? Show notes:00:01: Intro0:30: What is “nutritious food”? 1:30: Is beef nutritious? Is it the healthiest cheap food? 2:00: The Financial Times’ story on the price of beef. How this inflation affects low-income families. 4:00: Robb Wolf’s book, Sacred Cow makes a case for beef as a health food. 7:00: Is grass-fed/finished beef healthier than Key Foods slop? Why might either be healthy?? 9:00: The carnivore/hippie toxicity argument overlap. 10:00: Explaining the media’s skepticism on beef—climate change, politics, labor, proximity bias.12:00: Factory farming vs. regenerative farming; the moral drift towards veganism (cue Day of Suffering).14:00: What people think SNAP diets are; how food is discussed16:00: Animal based on a budget: Low-key not dumb? 18:00: Muscle meat vs. organ meats; Are we defining beef incorrectly? 20:00: The human impact of higher beef prices.22:00: Can beef be scaled out humanely? 25:00: Baroque, post-American ways of eating r*d m**t: closer to Hong Kong than Iowa. 27:00: Josh’s One For The Road: Dr. Howard Luks on rotational movement.31:00: Sami’s One For The Road: Are run clubs… swag? Reading list:* Robb Wolf and Diana Rodgers’ 2020 book, Sacred Cow.* Financial Times’ long reported story on rising price of beef. (paywall) * Ct. state senator living on SNAP diet budget (Hartford Courant)* Eating animal based on a budget (Paul Saladino)* Dr. Howard Luks MD on Substack: Why you need to train rotation* NY Times story (2019) on red meat’s health risk vs. carbon footprint.* Literary Sport’s Art Run run club* Day of Suffering discogs pageThanks for listening. More to come.SAMI REISS Consider a paid subscription if you like the podcast and newsletter. Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy everyone: THIRD episode of Snake Super Health the POD, a health discussion for people interested in severe alleyways of health—nutrition, red light, lifting, musculature, face yoga, foot yoga, no other types of yoga—who are otherwise NORMAL. Listen here, on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts.Of note: Yesterday’s OPEN SECRETS (news index) covered steroids in skincare, Nike’s new material, an all-natural microplastics binder, the Dr. Mike beef, and powerlifting and the art world. That’s here. There is also a new SNAKE hat, only available to paying subscribers. That info here.Onto the show. A Review of ExercisedIn today’s episode, I chat with my friend and COHOST Josh Feola about Harvard paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman’s book “Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding,” a fascinating, clear and accessible look that fundamentally alters, we think, the thinking about activity and inactivity we’re all on about today. Lieberman’s book’s thesis is that humans are not adapted to exercise, which is why it’s exercise. From this comes two points: One, its benefits, as a cleaning agent/social organizing principle, are necessary to our health, and two, not moving is equally important from an evolutionary perspective. Which is why we’re at a mismatch. The key is: it’s not crazy that we just like to chill. Humans always have. Link to the book above. Show Notes:1:00: Intro, Josh on Lieberman’s book: Exercise is a life extension technology.3:30: Are we, as modern people, actually not moving enough? Or is this historically unchanged? 5:00: Walking as a regression of sprinting and running: Lieberman is a Chad 7:30: The Hadza people and western biases in social sciences9:30: It’s not the sitting that’s bad, it’s the high-back chairs. 11:00: Evolutionary mismatches and modern disease. 12:30: Defining exercise: Voluntary physical activity that is planned—did ancient folks actually do this?14:00: Are we lifters, or are we dancer? 16:00: This is a chad book (speaking in terms of biomechanics) 18:00: Is exercise the best free technology there is?20:00: How to get over the evolutionary mismatch? Well: Everything works. 22:00: Lieberman’s anti-lifting and anti-calisthenics bias. 25:00: Is this book the single greatest argument for tenured academia that there is?* It’s good man29:00: Evolution and hypertrophy: Were there swole Etruscans or what? 32:00: Jogging vs. lifting.34:00: One for the road: Why we used to sleep in two segments by Darren Rhodes36:00: One for the road: Nissim Taleb: Never buy olive oil; never squat low bar. Selected reading:* Senator Flux and the High Back Chairs* Paul Saladino and the Hadza (beware)* Supertraining by Yuri Verkhoshansky* Malcolm Gladwell’s 2002 Taleb profile for the New Yorker* Practical Programming for Strength Training by Mark Rippetoe (free)* 1927 NYT story on the Terahumara runners (crazy language here)That’s it. Thanks for listening. Follow me on IG here. More to come.SAMI REISS Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy everyone: second EMERGENCY episode of Snake Super Health the POD, a health discussion for people interested in severe alleyways of health—nutrition, red light, lifting, the like—who are otherwise let us say… normal. Listen here or on Spotify (Apple Pod soon). Protein powdersIn this episode, I chat with my friend and COHOST Josh Feola, a fellow writer and onetime bandmate about the Consumer Reports story about protein powders, specifically about the methodology used, the different results between vegan and non-vegan proteins, the toxicity benchmark used in the story (and whether it’s relevant), as well as the change in the protein powder market from niche market to general use, and how this has affected the gulf between the FDA’s protein RDA (50 grams) and the magic lifting number of 1 gram per pound of bodyweight… and the longevity argument against supplementation. A more thorough discussion of these themes and ideas is also found in the news post I sent out Monday:Show notes:0:01: Intro0:30: Josh frames the CR story about powders2:30: Lead, and aggregation—are all powders the same? 3:00: Why are the vegan powders so much more lead-laden? (It’s funny)5:00: Previous CR stories about protein didn’t go viral because it was niche then.6:30: Old school proteins come out clean: Optimum Whey and mass gainers7:30: Creatine and protein powder: both ground up to dust.10:00: The surprise, and the vegan halo/morality effect (cue Day of Suffering)13:00: Lead levels in Prop 65—and is this story BS? 15:00: The story’s anti-supp bias: How many grams do you need a day?18:00: The difference between the RDA and hypertrophy numbers. 19:00: Is adding protein to the SAD dumb? 21:00: Powders are American, and the muscle meat culture23:00 Different whey powders, yeast protein—the market beyond the gym24:00: What to… buy?25:00: The higher trad path of getting a high level of protein with no powders26:00: Supplementation vs. replacement: Are powders for new jacks? 27:00: Arnold’s ice cream protein shake. 29:00: Understating the wild west aspect of supplementation30:00: Josh One for the road: Yeast protein?31:00: Snake One for the road: Honey and pollen.Selected reading:* The Consumer Reports story about protein and lead* One theory: Newer protein powders may be filthier (Swole Woman)* 2018 CR story* 2012 CR story* Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1970s protein shake; ice cream protein shake* Yeast protein study from 2001* Study on whey protein and cognition from 2020* Study on lead contamination in Chinese powders from 2021—anti-China bias but maybe the lead in these powders is just because they’re from China? Low key* Bee bread…That’s it.Thanks for listening. Follow me on IG here. As always—more to come.SAMI REISS Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe

Howdy everyone: pleased to offer the first episode of Snake Super Health the POD, a health discussion for people interested in severe alleyways of health—nutrition, red light, lifting, the like—who are otherwise let us say… normal. Intermittent and extended fastingIn this episode, I chat with my friend and COHOST Josh Feola, a fellow writer and onetime bandmate (eons ago) about intermittent and extended fasting, specifically about this diet’s evolution into medicalization, its origins in powerlifting and bodybuilding, the specious (and sometimes helpful) research around it, takeaways from the book, and the mainstream press around it.Show notes:1:00: Intro2:30: Josh discusses Atlas Powershrugged’s ebook The Antifragile Diet5:00: Are schools of lifting book religions?* CF: Starting Strength, Dinosaur Fitness6:30: The book sez: don’t fear catabolism—if you lose muscle that’s ok… 9:00: Research and intermittent fasting: Can it be ethically studied? 12:00: Ancel Keys (father of seed oils) and the Minneapolis Starvation Study, and IF research. 16:00: The issues with nutrition research: Data is often self reported.19:00: A longer look into extended fasting (36-hours plus—from the book). 21:00: Is catabolism… Lindy?23:00: The … undisprovability of lifting diets’ appeals to history. 30:00: Obesogenic environments and the relative ease of fasting. 32:00: Fasting, macros counting, stalling… and the return to the CICO model. 36:00: One for the road: Mead—a superfood?39:00: One for the road: Against specializing. Selected reading:* The Anti-fragile Diet by Atlas Power Shrugged. * Fascinating ebook about dieting that’s well advanced in the lifting canon. Here are his socials.* Atlas interview in story about lifting and jeans by me (Sami) for GQ. * Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik (entire PDF!)* Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz* Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation by Stephen Harrod Buhner (truly non-straight edge behavior)* Against specialization by Jamie Lewis.That’s it.Thanks for listening. Follow me on IG here. More to come. SAMI REISS Get full access to SNAKE SUPER HEALTH at superhealth.substack.com/subscribe