Why Podcasts are Awesome
While they are extremely popular with a certain population, there are a LOT of people – and I’m thinking YOU, the reader of this, may be one of them – that has yet to jump. Maybe you don’t know what the big deal is, or it just doesn’t seem as intuitive to jump in to as you might like. But I can tell you there is a LOT of great content there and it IS easy to start.
As I continue recording and posting new episodes of The Drop Set – I’m up to ~75 now – I continually get great feedback and suggestions from avid listeners but I know from talking to other people – existing clients, friends, acquaintances, random people in the gym – for a lot of people it’s a foreign concept.
For many people, podcasts are an extremely common form of entertainment – they subscribe to several covering a wide range of interests. Not just bodybuilding, but travel, politics, spiritualism, cooking – you name it, there are a billion available podcasts on the subject.
For many others, however, it’s something that’s not even on their radar. If you are new to podcasting but want to know how to get started, you’re in the right spot.
Why You Need The Drop Set In Your Life
Podcasts are awesome because they are right there at your fingertips, auto-delivered and auto-downloaded to your phone, so when it’s time for your commute/cardio/whatever, you just open up your favorite app and see what new stuff your subscriptions have in store for you. My personal take when it comes to bodybuilding is to try and educate, motivate, teach, help people find their own inspiration, share news stories, and talk about practical ways to apply the right mix of hyper-clinical analysis and bro-science.
How Podcasts Work
A podcast is just a stream that you subscribe to. If you find a podcast you like, you just “follow” or “subscribe” (depending on the syntax of the program you’re using) and new episodes are delivered automatically, and many apps will also send you notifications when new episodes are available of shows you’re subscribed to. This means that in most cases, even if you’re finding a podcast that’s already mature and has dozens (or hundreds) of episodes already recorded, you can go back and listen to old ones (this setting is not univeral, and the podcast publisher and publishing platform can place limitations on how many back episodes are available). Most apps by default will only download new episodes while you’re connected to wi-fi, to avoid sucking up your cellular plan’s data.
How to Listen to a Podcast
There are a lot of platforms/apps you can use – some are more universal for music/audio in general, and some are specific to podcasts and will often give additional playback features like a faster playback speed (personally? no thanks), for example. The big guys:
- iTunes – especially if you have an iPhone or iPad, this is kind of the “default” method for receiving podcasts (find The Drop Set on iTunes)
- Spotify – notoriously slow for approving podcasts but a GREAT, all-in-one, cross-platform app for all forms of streaming audio (find The Drop Set on Spotify)
- Google Play Music – not nearly as ingrained into Google products as iTunes is into Apple products, nonetheless Google does maintain a similar store when you can find music and subscribe to podcasts (find The Drop Set on Google Play Music)
And the specialty apps:
- Stitcher
- Castbox
- PodBean
- TuneIn Radio
- Overcast
- Radio Public
- Pocket Casts
I don’t have a lot of hands on, personal experience with those apps – but do some searching, read reviews, try it out and move on until you find one that suits your needs.
And of course – head on over to the main page at TheDropSet.com to view full episode archives right there, along with additional listening links, the call-in number for my Q&A line, and much more!