COACHING STANDARDS | PREP TIMELINES | FASTED CARDIO | SIDE STAGE ENERGY | EP#184

<p>Back for another episode, the boys open with a quick catch-up from the weekend show before getting straight into bigger coaching conversations around industry standards, prep timelines, cardio, and the small decisions that can make a big difference across a season. This one moves from winter show reflections into practical discussion on what better coaching can look like and how athletes should think about planning, feedback and performance.</p><p><br></p><p>We cover:<br>✅ Reflections from the first winter show, including crowd energy, athlete interviews and the overall atmosphere on the day<br>✅ Whether federations should play a role in improving coaching standards, and what a minimum level of coach education could look like<br>✅ Why bodybuilding still needs better safeguards around prep quality, planning and athlete care<br>✅ Common prep timeline mistakes, including starting too late, underestimating true stage condition, and not building in enough runway<br>✅ Why pre-prep phases, refeeds and better long-term structure can dramatically improve final conditioning<br>✅ The importance of adjusting based on the look, not just chasing a scale weight target<br>✅ Why building buffers into a prep matters when life stress, sickness, injury or fatigue hit at the wrong time<br>✅ Thoughts on bringing back “Rate My Physique” and using it to assess athletes against judging criteria<br>✅ Why high-energy side stage support can make a real difference to athlete confidence before they walk out<br>✅ Whether baking soda is actually useful for bodybuilding performance, and why the evidence seems more relevant to endurance-style efforts<br>✅ Why fasted cardio can be a practical tool when carbohydrate is better allocated toward training performance later in the day<br>✅ A detailed breakdown of using low-carb cardio to drive endurance adaptations, improve substrate use, and support performance in events like Hyrox and running<br>✅ MG’s obsession with the V squat, and why certain machines suit injury history, confidence and progression better than others</p><p><br></p><p>🎧 A big episode on coaching standards, smarter prep timelines, side stage energy, and the finer details of performance-based cardio.</p><p><br></p><p>LISTEN 🎧<br>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0ex8tkAzDHEBVZVK6Js5AN</p><p><br></p><p>FOLLOW 👇<br>PREP COACH PODCAST - https://www.instagram.com/prepcoachpodcast/<br>Michael Trimboli - https://www.instagram.com/michaeltrimbolifit/<br>Scott Morrell - htt