What moves you through the world? In the most literal sense, it's the same answer for all of us: muscle.

In On Muscle, Bonnie Tsui brings her signature blend of science, culture, immersive reporting, and personal narrative to examine not just what muscles are - but what they mean to us.

Bonnie attended Harvard University, where she rowed crew, snowboarded, and studied American literature. She came to surfing in her late 20s after relocating to California.

Today, Bonnie lives, swims, and surfs in the Bay Area and contributes regularly to the New York Times.

She is the author of four books: American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods, Why We Swim, Sarah and the Big Wave, and her latest, On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters

Bonnie talks us through the purpose of the brain (!), learning to surf as an adult, the gendered cultural narratives around strength, the name of a whale's powerful butt muscle, and the inevitability of age related muscle loss (and what we can do about it).

More about Bonnie here & here

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This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.

Its unique ownership structure reflects that Earth is its only shareholder: Profits not reinvested back into the business are paid as dividends to protect the planet.

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Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. It's a game-changer.

Head to Primal-water.com and use the code waterpeople for $100 off your purchase until June 30th, 2025.

Send us a text

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Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

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Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

How much has your homebreak shaped you - your life, livelihood, the person you've become?

The quirkiness of Dylan Graves' Puerto Rican homebreak shaped a lifelong obsession, and subsequent career in chasing, riding, and documenting Weird Waves around the globe. Tidal bores, standing waves, wedges, glacial calving swells; Dylan's Youtube channel shares an astonishing diversity of wavelengths.

While the focus of Dylan's wildly successful series is taking viewers to obscure and novel waves on the periphery of surf culture, in the process Dylan masterfully un-earths the heart and vibrance of surfers around the world – and the living cultures of stoke blossoming in unexpected places.

Dylan's lightness, warmth and positivity are underscored by the adversity he's faced. He candidly shares the impact of losing his father at a young age. This loss brought him and his brother, surfer Josie Graves, closer together, reinforcing their love for surfing as a way to connect with their father's memory.

Dylan talks us through the his DIY filmmaking process, the joy of not chasing perfection, and the cyclical experience of becoming a father.

...

This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.

Its unique ownership structure reflects that Earth is its only shareholder: Profits not reinvested back into the business are paid as dividends to protect the planet.

...

Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. It's a game-changer.

Head to Primal-water.com and use the code waterpeople for $100 off your purchase until June 30th, 2025.

Send us a text

...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

...

Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.

Besides being a professor of chemistry, Dr. Sarah Gerhardt was the first woman to ride one of the world’s most feared waves, Mavericks in icy Northern California. She is a mother of two and acknowledged as the first female tow-in surfer.

Amidst a tumultuous childhood, Sarah found stability in an unexpected place: The Periodic Table of Elements. Sarah learned to surf in the late '80s at Pismo Beach, California. In time, surfing became her escape from the hardships of home and faith became the guiding force in her life. She started experimenting with heavy water and big waves during her freshman year at college.

One Winter Story, a documentary about Sarah's big wave pioneering and scientific inquiry, came out in 2003.

More recently, Sarah featured in the groundbreaking documentary The Big Sea, wherein she lays out the chemical composition of neoprene - the material all of our wetsuits have been made of until very recently.

She talks us through some surprising chemistry - and the big impact seemingly small choices can make.

....

This episode is made possible by our generous partners:

Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.

Its unique ownership structure reflects that Earth is its only shareholder: Profits not reinvested back into the business are paid as dividends to protect the planet.

...

Primal Water, by Alkaway, is an at-home water filter that mimics nature and is boosted with molecular hydrogen. It's a game-changer.

Head to Primal-water.com and use the code waterpeople for $100 off your purchase until June 30th, 2025.

Send us a text

...

Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich

Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander

Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll

Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander

Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast

...

Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter.

You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox.

You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.