The Science of Muscle Growth | Christopher Fry PhD

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:02)
Welcome to the Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show, where I believe a healthy world is based on transparent conversations.
In today's episode, I sit down with Dr. Christopher Fry. He's a tenured associate professor in the Department of Athletic Training and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Kentucky. He serves as the associate director of the Center for Muscle Biology, which of course is something we find fascinating. Chris completed a BS in Biology at Baylor University, PhD in Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and a postdoc in Muscle Physiology at the University of Kentucky. His research is funded by several grants through the NIH, and he has received several awards for his research. He has created a focused research program that bridges targeted mechanistic approaches to clinical translation. What does this mean? This means he seeks to enhance the regenerative and regrowth capacity of skeletal muscle when it is compromised following an acute musculoskeletal injury with the purpose to support patient recovery. I know that that was a mouthful.
It's really important to understand that in this episode, we do something very unique.
We take bench research, mechanistic and animal model research, and Dr. Chris makes the bridge to human research and then finally to clinical application.
Very unusual and very important research.
In this episode, we discuss the concept of muscle plasticity and its importance in understanding muscle adaptation and recovery, particularly in the scenarios of muscle wasting or injury. We also discuss what a satellite cell is, why it is so important, and how that impacts both injury and sport performance and hypertrophy. This episode was packed with scientific information, with questions as to where we are in muscle physiology research, what we know and what are some therapeutic applications of his personal research.
This probably was one of my favorite episodes.
As always, if you enjoy this podcast, please take a moment to share it with your friends, with your family, with your trainer, with your healthcare provider. This is how we spread the word on muscle-centric medicine.
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And this holiday season, we are teaming up with Element to do a giveaway in which you will get a Element branded kettle and Element chocolate medley, 30 count to one lucky winner. Here's what you have to do. Take a screenshot of the podcast, tag Element, tag me. And between the dates of November 28th and December 31st, we will be picking one lucky winner and we'll contact you. Head on over to drinklmnt.com/dr.lyon. Thank you to Paleo Valley for providing us with one of our absolute family favorites. That is their beef sticks, their turkey sticks. This product is absolutely hands down incredible. If you want protein on the go, then Paleo Valley has your array of meat sticks. Yes, you heard me right. Why do I love them? Number one, they taste phenomenal. They have this fermentation process that they do to these beef sticks, so their texture and their flavor, it's just different.
These beef sticks are 100% grass fed, grass finished. They are beef sourced from small domestic farms. Again, they taste amazing. My listeners get 15% off, gotta be happy about that. These products have omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, bioavailable protein, just incredible and they are our go-to. You can get yours. Head on over to paleovalley.com/doctorlion. That's paleovalley.com/doctorlion or use the code doctorlion for 15% off. Dr. Chris Fry, welcome to the Dr. Gabrielle Lyon show. I am thrilled to have you on. Just before we started recording, we were mentioning the list of the who's who in the muscle protein synthesis world and you, and not just the muscle protein synthesis world, but the muscle world, you are certainly on that list. I am ecstatic and excited to talk to you about your research.