Strong parents raise strong kids.Stronger Weekly is the health and fitness show for hardworking parents. Hosted by Jesse Carrajat, Stronger Weekly helps you get stronger, live healthier, raise great kids, and enjoy the ride along the way.Here's what you can expect:- Health & Fitness Headlines: The latest health news, research, and trends, broken down into what actually matters for you and your family.- Fitness & Nutrition That Works: Practical, science-backed advice to build muscle, improve your health, and make the most of your limited time.- Meaningful Conversations: Honest interviews with experts, parents, and everyday people about health, fatherhood, relationships, and life.- Real Talk About Parenting: The challenges, lessons, and occasional chaos of raising kids while trying to become the best version of yourself.- A Little Fun Along the Way: Humor, nostalgia, pop culture, and the occasional completely unnecessary debate about 1990s professional wrestling.Jesse is a USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. Just a dad doing the work alongside you.Take your health seriously. Take your responsibilities seriously. Don't take yourself too seriously.Healthy habits are caught, not taught.New episodes every Wednesday.
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How to Build Muscle This Fall: 7 Rules That Actually Matter
mercredi 28 octobre 2026 • Durée 39:47
Fall is a good time to reset your training goals. But if building muscle is the priority, what actually matters: the perfect workout split, more days in the gym, heavier weights, or simply sticking with a plan?
In this solo episode, Jesse shares seven practical rules for building muscle while managing work, family, and everything else on your calendar. He covers realistic three-, four-, and five-day training schedules, challenging sets, progressive overload, and tracking progress without getting impatient. He also shares his approach to protein, calories, cardio, recovery, and supplements.
Jesse walks through his own fall program and explains why an advanced five-day routine isn't necessary for everyone.
Get the free 3-, 4-, or 5-day training toolkit and join the newsletter:
Stronger Weekly is the health and fitness show for hardworking parents. Hosted by Jesse Carrajat, Stronger Weekly helps you get stronger, live healthier, raise great kids, and enjoy the ride along the way.
Here's what you can expect:
- Health & Fitness Headlines: The latest health news, research, and trends, broken down into what actually matters for you and your family.
- Fitness & Nutrition That Works: Practical, science-backed advice to build muscle, improve your health, and make the most of your limited time.
- Meaningful Conversations: Honest interviews with experts, parents, and everyday people about health, fatherhood, relationships, and life.
- Real Talk About Parenting: The challenges, lessons, and occasional chaos of raising kids while trying to become the best version of yourself.
- A Little Fun Along the Way: Humor, nostalgia, pop culture, and the occasional completely unnecessary debate about 1990s professional wrestling.
Jesse is a USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. Just a dad doing the work alongside you.
Take your health seriously. Take your responsibilities seriously. Don't take yourself too seriously.
Ask Us Anything: Too Many Kids’ Sports, Parenting Burnout, and Why You Can’t Get Jacked (w/ Ben Barker)
mercredi 21 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:05:21
You want to build muscle, stay healthy, show up for your family, and somehow get everyone to the next soccer practice on time. But how much is too much?
Ben Barker is back for another Ask Us Anything with Jesse, tackling real questions from listeners trying to get stronger without letting fitness — or their kids' schedules — take over their lives. They get into overscheduled youth sports, why experienced lifters struggle to get bigger, and whether a deliberate muscle-building phase is worth trying. Jesse shares what happened when he bulked from roughly 190 to 220 pounds, got stronger, then cut it all back down. They also debate the tradeoff between sleep and early workouts, what changes when you cut back on alcohol, when kids should get their first phone, and whether yoga and Pilates belong in a strength-focused routine.
And one of the most relatable questions of all: how do you find the energy to be present with your family when work has already drained you? Ben's answer reframes the whole thing. Then it's rapid fire — 1990s wrestling, unpopular fitness opinions, and a few parenting confessions.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- A 47-year study of 427 people pinpoints when physical fitness peaks — and why it's never too late to start
- Cold plunges may ease soreness but blunt the muscle growth you're training for
- Exercise improves kids' metabolic health even when the scale doesn't move, across nearly 13,000 children
- An FDA-approved nasal spray offers new hope for treatment-resistant depression
- A 15-year study links warm, encouraging parenting to a child's developing ability to feel joy
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open & Intro
1:14 - The Weekly Health News Update
1:27 - When Does Fitness Actually Peak?
2:52 - Are Cold Plunges Costing You Gains?
5:29 - Why the Scale Isn't the Measure for Kids
How to Stay Fit, Feed Your Family, and Keep Your Sanity (Britany Williams)
mercredi 14 octobre 2026 • Durée 01:16:21
Most fitness advice assumes you have time you don't. Between work, children, meals, and the rest of life, parents are told to optimize everything — then left feeling behind when they can't.
Britany Williams has a better starting point. A former Division I runner, certified fitness trainer, creator, and host of Filter Free Friday, Britany spent ten years in a high-pressure role at Under Armour before building a career focused on helping women pursue health without losing themselves. She joined Jesse for an honest conversation recorded just days before her second child was due.
They unpack her "consistency ladder," why scheduling workouts matters more than finding the perfect plan, and a family-food strategy she calls ingredient prepping, not meal prepping. They also get into guilt, sleep deprivation, the endless maintenance work of running a household, and setting real boundaries with our phones — how to keep moving forward without making every day another test of your discipline.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- WHO issues its first global guidance on childhood obesity, emphasizing family-centered lifestyle support
- A Virginia Tech trial finds ultra-processed meals can prompt different insulin and brain responses despite closely matched nutrition labels
- A JAMA Network Open study links higher daily step counts to fewer mental-health symptoms in adolescents
- A supervised diet-and-exercise program puts 54% of younger adults with type 2 diabetes into remission after 24 weeks
- A JAMA Pediatrics study links parents' device use to more missed toddler communication cues
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open & Intro
2:06 - Health Brief: WHO's First Childhood Obesity Guidance
4:03 - Same Label, Different Response
6:55 - Steps and Teen Mental Health
8:42 - 54% Diabetes Remission in 24 Weeks
Four Kids. No Wi-Fi. No Screens. How a Tech Founder Raises Kids Like It's 1996 (Will Stackable)
mercredi 7 octobre 2026 • Durée 58:21
Two major studies landed this week on what screens are doing to kids — one tying smartphone ownership at 12 to eating disorder symptoms at 14, the other pooling data on 2.8 million children across 64 countries and finding lower grades, weaker language, and more anxiety across the board. Every parent listening already feels it. Almost none of us know what to actually do about it.
So Jesse sat down with his friend Will Stackable — co-founder and CMO of ArborXR, a VR company serving more than eighty Fortune 500s — who has spent ten years building the future and lives in a farmhouse outside Fort Collins with four kids under ten, no TV, no screens, and no Wi-Fi. This is his story honestly told: the moment on the floor with his son that started it, the year he threw out his smartphone entirely, why willpower was never enough, the firewalls he built instead, and what it gave his family. Then the part most people need — the version of this for a normal household that isn't about to rip out the router. How to talk to a kid about it. What to do this week. And what happens when they're teenagers and every friend has a phone.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 40 years of progress, and the free tool to know your own risk
- A 2,700-child study finds warm, consistent parenting beats everything else — and inconsistent discipline hurts most
- Creatine built muscle in adults 45 to 65 even without exercise in a new 12-week trial
- Smartphone ownership at 12 linked to a 67% higher risk of binge-eating symptoms by 14
- An umbrella review of 2.8 million kids finds screen time tied to lower grades and more anxiety
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open & Intro
1:27 - The Weekly Health Brief
1:38 - Breast Cancer Awareness Month
3:16 - Warm and Consistent: The Parenting Study
5:03 - Creatine Builds Muscle Without Exercise
Quit Drinking for 31 Days? Here's What Happens to Your Body (The Sober October Episode)
mercredi 30 septembre 2026 • Durée 01:01:11
Tomorrow is October 1st, and Jesse is going to try to talk you into Sober October. Thirty-one days, no alcohol. Not because you have a problem — most people don't — but because the research on what one month off does to your body is better than most people realize, and almost nobody talks about it.
Five reasons, each backed by real studies, with Melissa West — who built a TikTok following by telling her own sobriety story honestly — reacting to what it actually felt like. You'll feel less anxious (the next-day dread is chemistry, and it compounds). You'll feel more rested (alcohol sedates you, then wrecks the second half of the night). You'll give your body a chance to heal (a UCL study of 94 drinkers found insulin resistance down 26%, blood pressure down 6%, and cancer-related growth factors down in one month — with no change to diet or exercise). You'll have better workouts (alcohol cuts muscle rebuilding after training by a quarter to a third). And you'll just feel... happier. Plus the part nobody expects: six months later, people are still drinking less. Even the ones who didn't finish.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- Kratom: what parents need to know after two Ole Miss student deaths put it in the spotlight
- A study of 8.8 million adults finds no safe amount of ultra-processed food — every extra small serving raises risk
- Thirty years of exercise leaves you with more reserve at 64, and it's never too late to start
- Seven days of strength training shrinks fat cells before the scale moves
- Americans are drinking less for the first time since the pandemic, led by Gen Z and millennials
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open & Intro
2:14 - The Weekly Health Brief
2:27 - Kratom: What Parents Need to Know
5:07 - One Bag of Chips a Day
7:56 - Start Now, Cash In at 70
10:16 - Your Fat Cells Already Know
How to Raise Happy, Healthy Children in an Anxious World (with Todd Sarner, LMFT)
mercredi 23 septembre 2026 • Durée 01:30:31
Gentle parenting. Strict parenting. Free-range, attachment, screen-free, let-them-be-bored. Every philosophy has a following and a comment section, and for parents, it can be overwhelming. Meanwhile teachers are reporting a generation of kids who can't handle boredom, can't hear the word no, and fall apart the first time something doesn't go their way.
Jesse sits down with Todd Sarner — a licensed marriage and family therapist, former Neufeld Institute faculty, and the author of The Calm & Connected Parent — for a 101 on what actually works. Why you don't have to be a perfect parent, and why perfectionists often struggle the most. What attachment science actually says, and the difference between a secure and an anxious kid. Todd's framework of connection, regulation, and guidance — and why your kids need you to be an alpha, calm, and aligned parent. Why the gentle-versus-strict pendulum on Instagram misses the point entirely. And Jesse gets honest about what happens inside him when three kids get loud at once.
Then it gets practical: a fifteen-second breathing reset you can do in the car with the kids in the back seat, why giving a hug bigger ends a meltdown faster, and how to fill your kid's tank before things go sideways. No perfect scripts. No shame. Just a proven, research-backed framework to help you raise happy, healthy kids in an anxious generation.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- Six minutes of reading tied to a 68% drop in stress — and kids' reading is at a record low
- Over half of men in high-stress jobs report a private health problem, and it's reversible
- The 2026 school lunch report card: which states feed their kids best and worst
- ER visits for gambling nearly doubled after online sports betting expanded — mostly men and boys
- Twenty-four teachers on the modern parenting trends doing the most damage
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open & Intro
1:54 - The Weekly Health Brief: Six Minutes of Reading
3:30 - Stress and Men's Performance
What Is Functional Fitness — And Is It Right for You? (with Jon Little, REP Fitness)
mercredi 16 septembre 2026 • Durée 01:04:34
Everywhere you look, the fitness world is selling extremes — train harder, do more, chase the most intense program on the feed. But for a busy adult trying to stay strong and capable around work and family, that's a recipe for burnout, not results. So what actually works, and lasts? This episode makes the case for functional fitness: training that builds a body that's useful for real life, not just for the mirror.
Jesse sits down with Jon Little, President and COO of REP Fitness, to break down what functional fitness really means, how it's evolved, where it fits among all the options out there, and why the way you train and the way you fuel your body can't be separated. It's a practical, no-hype conversation about building strength you can sustain for life — and the role good nutrition, like the kind Purist is built around, plays in making it possible.
If you've ever felt lost in the noise of programs, classes, and trends, this one gives you a clear, honest framework for choosing how to train.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- 63 longevity experts were asked what actually works for aging well — and the answer costs nothing
- New research on AI chatbots, teen loneliness, and the sense of "mattering"
- Why vaccine confusion is spilling over into newborn care, and what pediatricians want parents to know
- A University of Miami study maps alcohol's reach across a surprising range of cancers
- A single gene, male infertility, and the diet connection researchers didn't expect
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - The Weekly Health Brief
1:05 - What 63 Experts Say Actually Works for Aging
2:58 - AI Chatbots, Teens & the Loneliness Question
5:47 - Vaccine Confusion & the Spillover Effect
7:49 - Alcohol's Reach Across Cancer Types
Intermittent Fasting, Lower Belly Fat & a $50 Supplement Stack (w/ Ben Barker)
mercredi 9 septembre 2026 • Durée 54:46
Strength training. Functional training. VO2 max. Zone 2. Sprints. Every podcast tells you something different is the one thing you can't skip — and if you've got four hours a week and a job and kids, that's not guidance, that's noise. This episode is about cutting through it.
Ben Barker is back to take your questions. What to actually do with four hours a week. Whether the lower belly pouch is a fat problem or just how you're built. How to get your spouse moving without ending up in the doghouse. What a supplement stack looks like on fifty bucks a month. The honest verdict on intermittent fasting now that everyone's talking about meal timing. And a question from a dad whose third-grade daughter came home crushed after getting made fun of at school. Two dads, no script, nothing to sell you.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- Why September may be a better fresh start than January, according to behavioral science
- Medical groups issue their own flu, COVID and RSV guidance to cut through the confusion
- Two separate studies find your liver runs on meal timing, not just what you eat
- Box breathing: the Navy SEAL stress tool you can learn in ten seconds
- What the evidence actually says about sleep training your baby
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open & Intro
1:18 - The Weekly Health Brief: The September Reset Is Real
2:47 - What to Do About Shots This Fall
6:12 - Your Liver Is Listening for the Dinner Bell
7:35 - Box Breathing
9:27 - Sleep Training: What the Evidence Says
12:27 - Listener Questions w/ Ben Barker
14:24 - Q1: Too Many Things — What Do I Actually Do? (Carol, Little Rock)
18:31 - Q2: The Lower Belly Pouch
5 Productivity Tips for Busy Parents (& How to Never Miss a Workout)
mercredi 2 septembre 2026 • Durée 47:37
You didn't miss the morning workout because you're lazy. You might just need better systems — and a different mindset for this busy season of life.
This episode lays out five tried-and-true strategies to win the day, so you can find the time and the energy to invest yourself in the areas of your life that matter most: your relationships, your health, and your happiness. Stop negotiating with yourself at 5am. Stop saying yes to everything. Stop sitting down every time you catch up with a friend. And stop believing the problem is discipline — it isn't. You don't need more discipline. You need fewer decisions.
We'll focus on setting priorities (and healthy boundaries), organizing yourself, maximizing your training, and of course proper rest. Along the way: why your chronotype is mostly genetics, what the phone in your gym bag is quietly costing you in reps, and why you can pay back sleep debt but you always pay interest.
None of it requires a new fitness app or additional time in the day. It just requires prioritization and a commitment to your health.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- Meta reaches an $18 billion settlement with 47 states over teen social media addiction — and agrees to time caps, school-hour notification bans, and limits on like counts
- UCSF builds the largest molecular map of autism ever created, and finds hundreds of genetic forms funnel into a small number of shared protein hubs
- A new clinical trial finds keto beat Mediterranean and low-fat diets on liver health and prediabetes remission — but all three produced the same weight loss
- Nearly 1 in 2 US adults now wears a fitness tracker — here are the only three metrics that actually matter
- After 30 hours without sleep, 20 minutes of cycling did the same thing for memory as a 90-minute nap
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open: It's Not Discipline
1:53 - The Weekly Health Brief
2:13 - Meta's $18 Billion Settlement Over Teen Social Media
Fitness for Busy Parents | Answering YOUR Questions | Connor Shehan
mercredi 26 août 2026 • Durée 01:15:54
Parents: working hard, sleeping little, stressed out, with mouths to feed and schedules to manage — all while trying to eat halfway decent and get a little exercise in. This one's for you. Jesse is joined in studio by Connor Shehan, fit dad and VP of Nutrition at Rep Fitness, to answer listener questions about fitness, nutrition, and raising strong kids.
They get into how much protein you actually need and whether too much can hurt you, what the real difference is between a $20 and a $50 version of the same supplement, what supplements are appropriate for kids and which ones aren't, whether you should take creatine at all if you don't lift, whether full-body workouts actually work, and what five exercises Connor would pick if he could only do five for the rest of his life. Plus the question that hit hardest: a dad wrote in feeling guilty because he doesn't want to work out with his kids — the gym is his only time to himself. Is he wrong?
Then a rapid-fire agree-or-disagree round and a parenting pop quiz that goes somewhat off the rails. You'll love it.
PLUS THIS WEEK'S HEALTH & FITNESS NEWS
- Children who lose a parent are twice as likely to develop a mental health disorder — new data from more than 6,300 households
- The cereal box toy is back, and the reason why says something about screens
- Meta goes on trial in federal court over child safety and social media addiction
- Why some kids are wired for sound sensitivity — 15,728 kids and what the brain scans show
- Does supplement timing actually matter? What the evidence says
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Cold Open & Intro
1:03 - The Weekly Health Brief
1:11 - Losing a Parent & Kids' Mental Health
2:58 - The Cereal Box Toy Is Back
5:52 - Meta Goes on Trial Over Child Safety
7:44 - Why Some Kids Are Wired for Sound Sensitivity
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Stronger Weekly is the health and fitness show for hardworking parents. Hosted by Jesse Carrajat, Stronger Weekly helps you get stronger, live healthier, raise great kids, and enjoy the ride along the way.
Here's what you can expect:
- Health & Fitness Headlines: The latest health news, research, and trends, broken down into what actually matters for you and your family.
- Fitness & Nutrition That Works: Practical, science-backed advice to build muscle, improve your health, and make the most of your limited time.
- Meaningful Conversations: Honest interviews with experts, parents, and everyday people about health, fatherhood, relationships, and life.
- Real Talk About Parenting: The challenges, lessons, and occasional chaos of raising kids while trying to become the best version of yourself.
- A Little Fun Along the Way: Humor, nostalgia, pop culture, and the occasional completely unnecessary debate about 1990s professional wrestling.
Jesse is a USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. Just a dad doing the work alongside you.
Take your health seriously. Take your responsibilities seriously. Don't take yourself too seriously.
Stronger Weekly is the health and fitness show for hardworking parents. Hosted by Jesse Carrajat, Stronger Weekly helps you get stronger, live healthier, raise great kids, and enjoy the ride along the way.
Here's what you can expect:
- Health & Fitness Headlines: The latest health news, research, and trends, broken down into what actually matters for you and your family.
- Fitness & Nutrition That Works: Practical, science-backed advice to build muscle, improve your health, and make the most of your limited time.
- Meaningful Conversations: Honest interviews with experts, parents, and everyday people about health, fatherhood, relationships, and life.
- Real Talk About Parenting: The challenges, lessons, and occasional chaos of raising kids while trying to become the best version of yourself.
- A Little Fun Along the Way: Humor, nostalgia, pop culture, and the occasional completely unnecessary debate about 1990s professional wrestling.
Jesse is a USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. Just a dad doing the work alongside you.
Take your health seriously. Take your responsibilities seriously. Don't take yourself too seriously.
13:40 - Reading the Post: "Dad, Why Don't We Have Wi-Fi?"
17:34 - Why He Finally Wrote It
18:17 - A 90s Kid, Then a Phone at 16
20:42 - The Moment on the Floor With His Son
22:21 - A Year With No Smartphone
24:19 - Whack-a-Mole: Apps and Infinity Pools
27:25 - Solitude Deprivation
30:50 - Driving Back in Time
32:25 - Atoms Over Electrons
35:42 - Why Kids Need to Be Bored
39:03 - The Adjustment, and the Projector
43:24 - When Their Friends All Have Phones
48:36 - Caught, Not Taught
49:53 - From Avoidance to Love
52:08 - The Playbook for a Normal Family
57:27 - Outro
ABOUT WILL STACKABLE:
Co-founder and CMO of ArborXR, which manages VR and AR devices for more than eighty Fortune 500 companies. Previously sold SpringboardVR and Scissortail Media. Lives outside Fort Collins, Colorado with his wife and four kids.
Read the post that started this: linkedin.com/in/willstackable
If the eating disorder segment hit home, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders has a free helpline at allianceforeatingdisorders.com.
The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches.
You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around.
Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life.
Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes:
- Health headlines, translated into what to actually do
- Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting
- Food for a family, not a bodybuilder
- The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load
- Experts who respect your time
Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you.
Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most.
Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday.
25:45 - Sober October, No-Nicotine November, Decaf December
27:53 - Reason 1: You'll Feel Less Anxious
36:43 - Reason 2: You'll Feel More Rested
43:30 - Reason 3: You'll Give Your Body a Chance to Heal
48:30 - Reason 4: You'll Have Better Workouts
53:00 - Reason 5: You'll Just Feel... Happier
57:00 - The Challenge
59:31 - Outro
THE 5 REASONS:
1. LESS ANXIOUS - Next-day anxiety is a chemical rebound (GABA drops, glutamate surges, cortisol spikes), and it compounds. A 1,192-person Sussex study found real gains in wellbeing after one month off.
2. MORE RESTED - Alcohol sedates you, then suppresses REM. Higher intake is linked to ~25% higher sleep apnea risk. 71% of Dry January participants slept better.
3. YOUR BODY HEALS - UCL study, 94 drinkers, one month: insulin resistance down 25.9%, blood pressure down ~6%, liver enzymes and cancer-related growth factors down.
4. BETTER WORKOUTS - Alcohol after training cuts muscle protein synthesis by 24-37%, raises cortisol, drops testosterone.
5. YOU'LL JUST FEEL HAPPIER - Six months later, people who took a month off are still drinking less. Even the ones who didn't finish.
ABOUT MELISSA WEST:
Content creator who built an audience on TikTok by sharing her sobriety story openly and honestly. She works with Oar Health. @melissarosewest
If you're concerned about your drinking, talk to your doctor. If you're in crisis, call or text 988.
The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches.
You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around.
Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life.
Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes:
- Health headlines, translated into what to actually do
- Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting
- Food for a family, not a bodybuilder
- The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load
- Experts who respect your time
Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you.
Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most.
Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday.
13:56 - 22 Years and the Framework That Changed Everything
15:19 - What Attachment Science Actually Says
16:41 - You Don't Have to Be a Perfect Parent
19:32 - Present Over Perfect: Who Struggles Most
23:47 - Secure vs. Anxious Attachment
26:56 - When the Chaos Makes You Feel Like a Failure
32:15 - Regulation Comes First
35:09 - The Framework: Connection, Regulation & Guidance
40:34 - Alpha Parents: Not a Best Friend, Not a Dictator
42:20 - Gentle vs. Strict Is the Wrong Debate
45:39 - "There's No Such Thing as a Confident Five-Year-Old"
48:07 - Calm Parents and What Happens in Your Brain
52:06 - Aligned Parents: Getting on the Same Page
57:44 - Discipline Means Teaching
1:03:30 - The Stress Response Behind Parental Blowups
1:07:34 - 4-7-8 Breathing: The 15-Second Reset
1:13:05 - Why a Bigger Hug Ends the Meltdown Faster
1:17:32 - Filling Their Tank: Proactive Connection
1:24:40 - The First Step: Say No, Mean It, Stay Kind
1:26:51 - The Weathermaker: Todd's Book for Dads
1:29:03 - Outro: Repair Beats Perfection
WHAT WE COVER:
- Why perfection isn't the goal, and why perfectionist parents often struggle most
- What attachment science says kids need from us, and what a secure base looks like
- Todd's framework: connection, regulation, and guidance
- Alpha, calm, and aligned — the three conditions kids need from their parents
- Why gentle vs. strict is the wrong debate
- What's happening in your brain when you blow up, and a fifteen-second breathing reset
- Why "give it bigger" works better than holding back affection
- How to proactively fill your kid's tank before the meltdown
ABOUT TODD SARNER:
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, founder of Transformative Parenting, and former faculty member at the Neufeld Institute, where he was personally mentored by Dr. Gordon Neufeld. Author of The Calm & Connected Parent. 22+ years, 2,000+ families. And a dad.
The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches.
You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around.
Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life.
Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes:
- Health headlines, translated into what to actually do
- Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting
- Food for a family, not a bodybuilder
- The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load
- Experts who respect your time
Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you.
Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most.
Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday.
The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches.
You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around.
Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life.
Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes:
- Health headlines, translated into what to actually do
- Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting
- Food for a family, not a bodybuilder
- The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load
- Experts who respect your time
Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you.
Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most.
Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday.
23:43 - Q3: Getting Your Spouse Off the Couch (Rachel B., Spokane)
27:06 - Q4: The $50 Budget Stack (Tim)
31:34 - Q5: Intermittent Fasting (Sam, Flagstaff)
38:25 - Q6: The Bracelet
45:42 - Lightning Round
53:25 - Outro
THE QUESTIONS:
1. Strength, functional, VO2 max, Zone 2, sprints - I have four hours a week. What do I actually do?
2. I'm lean and abs show up top, but the lower belly pouch won't go. When do I accept that's how I'm built?
3. How do I get my husband working out without ending up in the doghouse?
4. I can't afford the full supplement stack. What does $50 a month look like?
5. Is there something real about fasting, or is it just a trick to eat fewer calories?
6. My third grader got made fun of for her bracelet. What would you have told her?
LIGHTNING ROUND:
Best athlete physique ever, most surprising physique, most overrated exercise, dumbest fitness gadget, the sport we hope our kids never play, and the best football movie of all time.
ABOUT BEN BARKER:
Founder of Ben Barker Fitness and a returning guest. One of the few voices in this space who'll give it to you straight - no sponsored spin, no course to sell.
The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches.
You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around.
Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life.
Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes:
- Health headlines, translated into what to actually do
- Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting
- Food for a family, not a bodybuilder
- The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load
- Experts who respect your time
Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you.
Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most.
Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday.
15:54 - Rule 1: Put First Things First (Covey & the Eisenhower Matrix)
23:58 - Rule 2: If It's Not on the Calendar, It Doesn't Exist
29:13 - Rule 3: Trade the Barstool for the Barbell
32:59 - Rule 4: Train Smart (Splits, Supersets, Put the Phone Down)
39:43 - Rule 5: Sleep — Pay the Debt, With Interest
45:22 - Recap & Closing: This Is a Season
THE 5 RULES:
1. PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST - Rank your priorities. Covey's Habit 3 and the Eisenhower Matrix. Your health lives permanently in "important but not urgent" — the box that never gets loud until it's a diagnosis.
2. IF IT'S NOT ON THE CALENDAR, IT DOESN'T EXIST - Block every priority, share the calendar with your spouse, use one task system, stop answering every ping. Implementation intentions are among the most replicated findings in behavior change.
3. TRADE THE BARSTOOL FOR THE BARBELL - Stop socializing sitting down. Walk-and-talks, calls on your feet, training with friends in the morning. The only tactic here that makes time instead of saving it.
4. TRAIN SMART - 45-60 minutes. Upper/lower or full body. Compounds. Superset to compress. Phone in the locker.
5. SLEEP - Chase your number, not the number. Chronotype is largely genetic. You can pay back sleep debt, but you pay interest.
The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches.
You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around.
Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life.
Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes:
- Health headlines, translated into what to actually do
- Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting
- Food for a family, not a bodybuilder
- The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load
- Experts who respect your time
Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you.
Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most.
Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday.
The health and fitness show for parents in the trenches.
You care about your body. You care about your kids. You care about your career, your marriage, your faith, your friends — and there's not enough of you to go around.
Stronger Weekly is for the ones tired of parenting advice that ignores their health, and fitness advice that ignores their life.
Every Wednesday, in about 30 minutes:
- Health headlines, translated into what to actually do
- Workouts that survive a sick kid and a 7am meeting
- Food for a family, not a bodybuilder
- The stuff nobody says out loud — the drink, the burnout, the mental load
- Experts who respect your time
Hosted by Jesse Carrajat — USMC veteran, certified health and fitness coach, healthcare executive, and father of three. Not a guru. A parent doing the work alongside you.
Life is short. Let's spend it wisely — so we're still here, and still strong, when it matters most.
Strong parents. Strong kids. New episodes every Wednesday.
