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Topics / Strength Sports

Strength Sports Podcasts

97 shows and 15,980 episodes sit under Strength Sports.

Hear competition analysis, coaching talk, training science and practical Q&A from Weightlifting House, Evidence Strong and The Dan John Podcast.

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A field guide

Getting into Strength Sports podcasts

The meet is over, the scoresheet is posted, and the argument has just started. Was that third attempt greedy? Should the bench rule have changed? Who knew that lifter could total that? Strength sport runs on exact numbers, and its best podcasts are where those numbers get argued over, explained and occasionally forgiven. A good one can make a weigh-in or a ten-minute kettlebell set sound like what it is: a test with rules, a history and a person standing in the middle of it.

The range is wider than the gym-bro stereotype suggests. It runs from news shows reporting on the training hall to coaching roundtables that spend time on percentages, and on to federation explainers, strongman road trips and bodybuilding panels. Edison Research reported in March 2026 that 58% of Americans aged 12 and over consume podcasts monthly. That figure covers every kind of show. It says nothing about appetite for sumo deadlifts.

Listeners mostly argue about relevance and attention. Some want lifting science applied to their own sport rather than to fitness in general. In April 2026, one forum poster complained that health podcasts seemed to overlook women lifting weights, and another replied that lifting had simply become normal. Meanwhile the rulebook, from bench depth to weightlifting's press-out, keeps turning into programming.

The training hall and the scoreboard

If you want to know who is lifting well this month, start with the shows built around competition.

Weightlifting House, hosted by Seb Ostrowicz, works like a busy sports desk for the Olympic lifts. In Europeans Day 1 - Training Hall Updates & Big Predictions, the hosts report on the training hall and then march through their picks session by session. One expects them to be "80% in agreement," with the rest to be fought over. The same episode shows the show's double life: the hosts count their own company's straps, belts and T-shirts on other teams as a measure of the business's growth. That is candid, and worth remembering when the episode later promotes a sale.

Can Lasha actually win in LA 2028? shows the show at its most playful: a 21-minute what-if that demands a yes or no on a five-second countdown. September's list includes Asian Games Predictions and the USAW Press-out 'Controversy', which is the rule debate in headline form.

King Of The Lifts, with 6 Pack Lapadat, treats powerlifting rivalries as a running story. Presser Powerlifting X KOTL: USA vs the World, Powerlifting growth or recession, controversial solution! counts 43 American flags among 80 male lifters on all-time top totals. The conversation explains the gap with "two words": high school powerlifting in Texas and American football. It is offered as an answer to "why do we think," and the 114 minutes give it room.

The Power in Lifting, which sets out to highlight strong women in the sport, covers the same meets from another seat. #178: Powerlifting America Nationals 2026 Recap! goes weight class by weight class with obvious affection for the lifters. It greets the latest bench-rule tinkering with a shrug: "the strong girls are just going to be strong."

The coaching room

Results tell you what happened. The coaching shows ask why.

2 White Lights is the most generous of them. In 2WL Episode 273- Matt Cronin and Sean Collins, a guest makes the case for "the lost art of the training partner." The talk turns personal when one speaker remembers a partner who has since died, and the steak dinner owed by whoever benched 150 first. 2WL Episode 277- Book Club has coaches working through a strength and conditioning book together, down to the claim that moving 82% of a max with full intent may produce 90% of peak force. It is dense, and it is also rare: a podcast that sounds like coaches thinking out loud.

Philosophical Weightlifting Podcast is one answer to listeners who want science fitted to their own sport. In Ep. 325: Training Talks w/Max Aita | High Frequency Training, an infographic warning lifters never to go off-program when they feel good is dismissed in a line: "I mean, it's just not true." Ep. 326: Celia Gold | The Mindset of an Elite Weightlifter is more personal. Gold, fresh from competing at the Arnold, concludes that her snatches need more consistency.

The commercial ties sit close to the surface. Episode 325 carries a pitch for an AI-assisted coaching app, an earlier episode runs a Weightlifting House sponsor read, and Ep. 324: Seb Ostrowicz | Olivia Reeves, WLing's New Format, & Absurd Lifts brings that show's host over as a guest.

There is a neat comparison between two shows:

  • In King Of The Lifts' Colton Engelbrecht: Haack, Hafthor, the Total WR, Strongman DL WR and WSM!, Engelbrecht admits he thinks he was too focused on a sumo deadlift record.
  • In British Strength Radio's Episode 77 with Thomas Lilley: Coaching Colton Engelbrecht, his coach compares practising the competition lifts to practising in a drag racer: useful, but not what makes the car faster.

King Of The Lifts' Weight Cutting and the link to your performance (Sports Science Series) is a model of caution. A researcher who surveyed lifters at two world championships warns that the data cannot show causation. When the pre-registration explainer runs long, it gets cut short: "You didn't call your shot like Babe Ruth."

Who runs the sport

Powerlifting governance is a soap opera with a rulebook, and two shows take it seriously.

x1@8 Podcast's x1@8 - EGM Discussion. is a patient briefing on British Powerlifting's pursuit of governing-body status, the Sport England conditions attached to it, and a letter from members saying leadership no longer had their confidence. It dates from July 2023, so treat it as background. x1@8 - IPF Approved Kit List & Bench Rule Changes explains what a provisional-approval asterisk on the kit list actually means.

Berserker Strength Radio: The Strength and Anger Podcast, hosted by Eric Stone and Robert Bain, supplies history with plenty of swearing. Episode 81: Making Powerlifting Mainstream reads out an old letter about a feud inside the USPF and argues over prize money and broadcasting. In S&A Interview #22: Jimmy Kolb, the multi-ply bench presser admits he once burned out lifters by making them train his way. The newest listed episodes date from 2022.

Strongmen, kettlebells and the stage

Further from the barbell, the shows become portraits.

H2oCast, Dave Waters's strongman show, has listed episodes from 2019 and early 2020. E14: Kristjan Neilsson was recorded upstairs in Thor's gym. E20: Dave Waters turns the microphone on the host, including the Mammoth event where 27 of 80 entrants failed to show amid a winter storm.

Pressing The Limits Podcast is warmer still. In Ep. 51 - Dan Severn: Find The Nicest Way To Take A Person Out, the 67-year-old Severn talks about amateur wrestling, the cage, and hula hoops with his grandchildren. For more of that ground, try the Wrestling page and the Combat Sports page.

Ballistic Strength Radio - Kettlebell Sport Podcast, hosted by Solomon Macys, gives a niche sport full seriousness. BSN Radio_Ep. 017 - The Problem with Chasing Rank in Kettlebell Sport w/ Charlie Fornelli traces the sport's master-of-sport ranks to the Soviet system and asks whether chasing them leaves technique behind.

Real Bodybuilding Podcast covers the physique stage with predictions, a side bet over a case of product, and some crude tangents. SAMSON DAUDA | RBP 203 is the steadier way in, on the difference between a rested 320 and a tired one. One title promises fantasy league picks, so the Fantasy Sports page is a natural next stop.

Where to start

  • For the Olympic lifts: Weightlifting House, Can Lasha actually win in LA 2028?
  • If a first meet is coming: The Power in Lifting, 171: How to be 100% Ready for your 1st Meet, with frank advice about weigh-ins.
  • For the coaching mind: 2 White Lights, 2WL Episode 273- Matt Cronin and Sean Collins.
  • For powerlifting's arguments: King Of The Lifts, Presser Powerlifting X KOTL: USA vs the World, Powerlifting growth or recession, controversial solution!
  • For company on a long walk: Pressing The Limits Podcast, Ep. 51 - Dan Severn: Find The Nicest Way To Take A Person Out.

Pick the conversation you want after your next session, and listen for one number you would otherwise have taken on trust. The Sports page maps the rest of the field.

Featured shows below are part of the PlayNext catalog. Updated weekly.

Featured shows

8 shows, described rather than listed

Each one comes with a short write-up and the role it plays in this guide.

weightlifting news
Weightlifting House

Weightlifting House mixes multi-host conversation, solo news rundowns and guest discussion on athletes, records, start lists and competition predictions. It suits listeners already invested in Olympic lifting.

training science
Evidence Strong | Weightlifting Science

Evidence Strong lets expert guests lead measured conversations on training research, from isometric pulls and cardio to weight classes and lifting technique. It suits athletes and coaches who want practical implications.

powerlifting insider
King Of The Lifts

King Of The Lifts brings a fast, fan-analyst view of powerlifting through interviews about totals, records, rankings, podium battles and rivalries. It suits listeners who follow the sport from inside.

coaching roundtable
CVASPS The Podcast

CVASPS hosts brisk, mentor-like conversations with strength coaches about standards, program principles, training frameworks and what the game demands. It suits practitioners who enjoy coaches talking shop.

barbell debates
Starting Strength Radio

Starting Strength Radio pairs blunt barbell instruction with Q&A, debate, sarcasm and direct correction, while also ranging into books, movies and current events. It suits listeners comfortable with an argumentative style.

practical q and a
The Dan John Podcast

The Dan John Podcast answers listener questions with practical rules of thumb, training stories and tradeoffs across kettlebells, strength, muscle, fat loss and lifelong lifting. It suits people who want usable coaching guidance.

gym culture banter
Berserker Strength Radio: The Strength and Anger Podcast

Berserker Strength Radio mixes powerlifting talk with recurring banter, local gym updates, meet prep, politics, inside jokes and guest-led oral histories. It suits listeners who like their strength talk loose and unfiltered.

technical interviews
British Strength Radio

British Strength Radio offers relaxed, technically literate interviews with people inside powerlifting, covering coaching, competition, equipment, PEDs and the culture around the sport. It suits listeners who enjoy long-form shop talk.