We had the amazing opportunity to catch up with the one and only Dr. Mike T. Nelson at the Arnold this year!  Dr. Nelson was one of our highest downloaded episodes last year when we talked about metabolic flexibility during our nutrition deep dive.  This time we brought him back to dive into another area of passion for Mike, the autonomic nervous system.     Time Stamps How did he get into studying HRV, metabolic flexibility and the autonomic nervous system? [3:15] What is an example of someone who is starting to lose their heart rate variability? [11:03] What are some of the implications, short term, as far as performance and stress? [13:02] What are some of the most obvious implications of improved HRV? [17:30] Does he have some progressive strategies that he implements to train people to be able to push their sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system higher? [20:46] In his studies, what did he learn about the autonomic nervous system from his subjects? [26:16] How does HRV influence someone’s training? What training they should be doing? [32:26] Tips to balance lifestyle stressors with training. [37:06] Why your perception is EVERYTHING on how things impact you. [42:46] Does he change nutritional interventions based on their HRV levels? [47:46] If someone has high sympathetic stress and low HRV, can we deduce that cortisol will always be high? [53:50] Does he have any supplemental interventions to manage cortisol and stress? [56:43] How fitness is a culture of extremes. [1:02:55] What has he seen fasting do to HRV? [1:09:42] Does he think that HRV is correlated with body composition? [1:12:38] How much are estrogen and testosterone playing into HRV? [1:13:45] What else SHOULD the listener know about the autonomic nervous system? [1:15:46] Has he done any digging into the correlation of capnography and the autonomic nervous system? [1:21:42] Featured Guest Dr. Mike T Nelson (@drmiketnelson) • Instagram Website Flex Diet Related Links/Products Mentioned Muscle Expert Podcast 126-Metabolic Flexibility, Training Nutrition with Dr. Mike Nelson Metabolic Flexibility | T Nation What To Do When You're Overtrained - Ben Greenfield Fitness Oura Ring: the most accurate sleep and activity tracker Cardiovascular and ride time-to-exhaustion effects of an energy drink Muscle Expert Podcast 120- Dr. Rick Hanson- Finding Buddha’s Brain Cold Water Immersion Enhanced Athletes’ Wellness and 10-m Short Sprint Performance 24-h After a Simulated Mixed Martial Arts Combat Sauna Report - FoundMyFitness Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers - Book by Robert Sapolsky Muscle Expert Podcast 161- Master Your Sleep Through Tracking with Harpreet Rai of Oura Capnography - Wikipedia Moxy Monitor - Muscle Oxygen Monitor Train Adapt Evolve 003- Hands on Nervous System Training with Dr. Mickra Hamilton People Mentioned Rick Hanson (@rickhansonphd) • Instagram Dan Pardi (@danielpardi) • Instagram Dr. Rhonda Patrick (@foundmyfitness) • Instagram Wim Hof (@iceman_hof) • Instagram Brian Mackenzie (@_brianmackenzie) • Instagram