Performance Brain Health - Part 1 with Dr. Tommy Wood, Doug Larson Travis Mash & Dr. Mike Lane #832

Barbell Shrugged

Doug Larson

Fitness, Health & Fitness, Nutrition

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Barbell Shrugged, Doug Larson is joined by longtime co-host Travis Mash and new co-host Dr. Mike Lane for a return visit from one of the show's most popular guests, Dr. Tommy Wood. Tommy breaks down the core thesis of his new book, The Stimulated Mind (releasing March 24), which uses dementia prevention as the headline but is really about boosting cognition at every stage of life. The crew sets the tone early: brain health is not "old people stuff," it's performance, learning, and resilience, built daily through how you live and how you train.

Tommy makes the case that "optimization" only works when it fits real life, and that the brain adapts like the body: sleep, nutrition, and exercise support it, but you still have to "train the brain" with demanding learning and skills. He outlines a practical learning dose-response, roughly 30–90 minutes of deep challenge per session, 2–3 times per week as a sweet spot for consolidation, while acknowledging the power of daily touchpoints for habit formation (Doug's Duolingo streak and the "don't break the chain" approach). From there, they go deep on exercise modalities and cognition: aerobic work and interval training improving hippocampal function (memory), high-intensity work potentially driving brain benefits through lactate → local BDNF, and coordinative/open-skill sports (racket sports, dancing, martial arts) producing outsized brain returns for the same physical strain.

The conversation closes with a fast but important run through risk, genetics, and lifestyle: Tommy explains ApoE4 as a risk multiplier that's highly environment-dependent, amplifying bad inputs (inflammation, poor metabolic health) but also amplifying the benefits of doing the basics well. They hit the big nutrition levers for cognition; omega-3s, key B vitamins (methylation), vitamin D, iron, plus polyphenol-rich foods (berries, cocoa, coffee/tea), and squash the common "red wine" rationalization by emphasizing net outcomes (sleep and brain volume matter). Finally, Tommy emphasizes the under-rated keystone: social connection and pro-social behavior, arguing that the Mediterranean "diet" is really a Mediterranean lifestyle, and that isolation can erase many of the benefits of even a perfect nutrition plan.

Links:

Doug Larson on Instagram
Coach Travis Mash on Instagram

Transcript

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0:00.0	Friends, Doug Larson here, and this week on Barbell Strugged, myself, Travis Mash and Dr. Mike Lane, welcome one of my favorite all-time guests, Dr. Tommy Wood. Tommy's the greatest dude. He's an MD, PhD in neuroscience at the University of Washington, and he's putting out a new book. Everything he does is about brain health, and this book is called The Stimulated Mind. It's all about warding off dementia and staying sharp quote unquote at any age so it's not just a dementia book even though it has that
0:25.6	in the title but really it's about cognitive performance and keeping your brain as healthy as possible
0:29.9	for as long as possible and a big part of that's just keeping your whole body healthy eating right
0:34.5	sleeping training all the things Tommy's also a strong man competitor and a long-time fan of the show. I love talking with him. So if you're interested in brain health and keeping your brain healthy all the way to the end, this show is for you. Enjoy the show. Welcome to Barbell Strugged. I'm Doug Larsen here with longtime co-host, Travis Mash, and our new co-host, Dr. Mike Lane. Again, if you haven't listened to the last two or three episodes of the show, Andy, Anders, Anders Barner, a longtime host for eight years of Barbara Strugg has moved on to bigger and better things in the world. And I've taken over as the main host here. And then again, Mike Lane is joining us here for the long haul and
1:12.1	today is special day one of my favorite all-time guests Dr. Tommy Wood dude welcome back to the show
1:17.3	thanks so much having me back uh it's super awesome to be here with all of you yeah dude I was I was
1:25.3	fucking stoked to hear that you were coming out with a book you said that that and I was like, oh, it is about time, my friend. I'm excited. I've not seen it yet. So I'm excited to read it eventually. But, dude, I'm happy to have you back on and talk through it all. Yeah, yeah, thanks. So if people have listened to the previous episodes,
1:45.0	we did on Barbell Shrug, one of the areas I work in
1:50.0	is looking at cognitive function, how to build it, maintain it,
1:55.0	prevent it from declining.
1:57.0	And that's essentially what my book is about.
2:01.5	It's called The Simulated Mind comes out March 24th.
2:04.5	Um, yeah, like super happy to talk to you guys about it and, uh, you know,
2:08.9	all the topics around, uh, those kinds of parts of brain health.
2:13.9	Is it, is it just, is it dementia or all the air?
2:17.9	I mean, I see that it's like, you know, avoid dementia, but like give it.
2:23.1	Let's go through your whole background here.
2:24.6	Yeah.
2:24.9	Yeah.
2:25.2	Yeah.
2:25.7	It looks super exciting.
2:27.3	Great.
	...

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