Recommended Resources

Books

Body Composition

• Muscle & Strength Pyramids – Two books; one nutrition and one training. You can get either one, or both. If I had read these books at the start of my journey in health and fitness, then I would have saved myself years of confusion, twists and turns and spinning my wheels. This is one of the very few resources I can whole-heartedly say that EVERY health & fitness professional and enthusiast should own.
• A Guide to Flexible Dieting – Contrary to what most dieters seem to believe, research has routinely found that dieters who are too rigid in their behaviors, expecting perfection, not accepting even the slightest slip actually do worse than people who take more flexible approaches to dieting. Author Lyle McDonald explains how being less strict about your diet can actually make it more effective.

Health

• Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy – In this revised and updated edition of the bestselling Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, Dr. Walter Willett, long-time chair of the renowned Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, lays out a thorough and evidence-based overview of what we know about healthy diets.
• The Hungry Brain – Obesity and neuroscience researcher Stephan Guyenet attempts to answer the questions: why do we overeat, and what can we do about it? Guyenet makes the case that our appetites and food choices are led astray by brain circuits that play by the rules of a survival game that no longer exists.
• The Proof Is in the Plants – Simon Hill does a great job simplifying some core concepts of nutrition and health research, with a focus on plant-based diets. It also includes plenty of practical steps for those wishing to increase the amount of plants in their diet.

Sports Nutrition

• Making Weight: The Ultimate Science Based Guide to Cutting Weight for Combat Sports – Whether you’re a nutrition professional or combat sports athlete looking to optimize the weight cutting process, then this is the book for you. Making Weight is the definitive guide to cutting weight for combat sports. The authors draw on years of experience working with combat athletes, as well as the latest research in sports nutrition and physiology, to bring you a step-by-step plan for optimizing your weight-cutting process. There are also real-world case studies of the diets and strategies of some of the best athletes in the world.
• Sigma Weight Cutting System for MMA & Boxing – This is my original book on this topic, coming out six years prior to Making Weight. This book details a complete system for you to learn and apply for yourself so that you can take control of your performance nutrition, make weight effectively and be the best fighter you can be. It also provides all the details behind how to apply this, which is especially important if you are a coach or nutritionist working with combat sport athletes who need to make weight and win.
• Eat Up, Raise Your Game – In his work with elite athletes, performance nutritionist Daniel Davey has seen first-hand how consistently eating good food can lead to trophies, personal bests and incredible physiques. Recipes are broken down into two broad categories: higher carbohydrate recipes for fuelling your performance or supporting recovery on exercise days, and lower carbohydrate recipes, which are more relevant to active recovery days.

Textbooks/Nutrition Science

• Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism (Gropper, Smith & Carr) – Danny’s favourite metabolism textbook! For those looking for a nutrition science textbook, this is one I really like. It will equip you with a solid understanding of digestion, absorption, and metabolism of fat, protein, and carbohydrates; examines the structures and functions of water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins — including their regulatory roles in metabolism; and provides information on vitamin and mineral food sources, recommended intakes, deficiency, and toxicity.

Other Resources

• 3DMJ Lifting Library – Video tutorials performed and narrated by 3DMJ Coaches. Instruction on set-up, performance, grip, stance, verbal cues, equipment, bracing, and any other overall execution guidance you may need. Programming considerations for every exercise so you know how it fits into your overall plan.
• Binge Eating Essentials For Health Professionals – Ranked the 15th most influential scientist on binge-eating disorder worldwide, and the founder of Break Binge Eating, Dr. Jake Linardon (PhD) provides health professionals with a cutting-edge, multi-modular course that will enable you to recognize, screen, and appropriately address binge eating problems in your clients.
• Body Image Fundamentals for Fitness Professionals – A course from Shannon Beer comprising of evidence-based, easy to understand lectures broken down into 15-30 minute segments to improve your knowledge.
• Calorify – Using the gold-standard method, doubly-lableled water (DLW), this at-home test actually gives you an accurate measure of energy expenditure. Their main scientific advisor is multiple-time podcast guest, Dr. Herman Pontzer. You can get a $50 discount using the code SIGMA at checkout.

---

Podcast Production & Software

For those who are interested in content creation and wish to know the tools we use, here’s a short list:

• Podcast recording: Riverside
• Podcast hosting: LibSyn
• Transcription services: Rev
• Email newsletter: MailerLite
• Premium podcast subscription: Supercast
• Website host: Flywheel

---

Want to support our work? You can make a one-time donation by going to this page, and hitting “Make a donation”

Note: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, Sigma will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please note that I have experience with all of these products/service and can vouch honestly about their value and usefulness. I would recommend everything on this page even if I were not receiving a small commission for some of them. I can 100% stand behind all of these resources. I just wanted to be up-front and honest. Hope you find them useful!