Why Strength Training Kicks Dieting’s Ass with Casey Johnston

Factually! with Adam Conover

Headgum

Comedy

4.4 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Being in “good shape” doesn’t just mean changing your diet in pursuit of unrealistic standards of thinness; it means challenging your body to be more capable today than it was yesterday. In recent years, weight lifting has been catching on as a primary exercise focus for both men and women who are trying to live healthier lifestyles. This week, Adam sits with Casey Johnston, author of A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting, to talk about the gains that can be made by breaking out of diet culture and lifting instead. Find Casey’s book at factuallypod.com/books

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a headgum podcast.
0:05.8	Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com.
0:11.1	U.K.
0:11.9	slash Wondery.
0:13.1	That's audible.com.
0:14.5	UK slash Wondery.
0:17.0	I don't know the truth.
0:19.7	I don't know the way. I don't know anything.
0:23.6	I don't know what to think.
0:26.6	I don't know what to say.
0:29.6	Yeah, but that's all right.
0:31.6	That's okay.
0:35.6	I don't know anything. Hey, welcome to factually. I'm Adam know anything.
0:41.0	Hey, welcome to Factually.
0:41.8	I'm Adam Conover.
0:43.2	Thanks for joining me on the show again.
0:50.4	You know, for most of my life, one word has dominated American fitness, diet, and physical culture.
0:52.2	And that word is thinness.
0:56.7	To ward off being labeled as fat, you literally had to be on the run, running countless miles, doing tons of cardio, and controlling and limiting what you ate as much
1:02.6	as possible, avoiding fat, avoiding carbs, avoiding anything that would make your body unthin.
1:09.3	And this obsession with thinness that has lasted almost a century in American
1:14.4	culture has caused untold misery. It has wrecked American self-esteem. It creates eating disorders.
	...

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