Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

In this episode, Adam and I discuss the business and marketing side of the fitness industry in general, and more specifically, of his company, Mind Pump, including how they’ve continued to grow and what it takes to scale. Adam’s been on my podcast before, but in case you’re not familiar with him, he’s a host of Mind Pump, one of the biggest health and fitness podcasts around. He’s also a coach who’s worked with over 1,000 people, and taught other coaches how to be better leaders and sell their services. Adam’s built multiple successful businesses, so he knows a thing or two about how to build and scale one. In our chat, Adam and I talk about . . . Scarcity mindsets and fear of being judged by peers Why some people aren’t open and honest about business successes and struggles The Liver king marketing machine Social media strategy and the differences between various platforms (including Tiktok) The secret to finding meaningful work and not dreading your job The power of knowing when to say “no” to a business idea And more . . . So if you’re at all interested in entrepreneurship, business growth, or “how the sausage gets made” behind the scenes, you’re going to enjoy this podcast! Timestamps: 0:00 - Triumph Male & Female are 25% off this week only! Go to buylegion.com/triumph and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% on anything else you order or get double reward points! 6:26 - Why don’t people have honest business conversations? 18:44 - What do you think of popular people who state false information on social media? 47:42 - How did you find the best delivery for your audience? 1:15:42 - What is the next level for you? 1:24:58 - Do you believe that enthusiasm is the secret to success? 1:40:04 - Where can we find you? Mentioned on the show: Triumph Male & Female are 25% off this week only! Go to buylegion.com/triumph and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% on anything else you order or get double reward points! Mind Pump’s Free Resources: mindpumpfree.com

My Book Club series isn’t dead! These are the juiciest tidbits from William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, a book that’s always on my list of recommended books on writing. “Can you recommend a book for…?” “What are you reading right now?” “What are your favorite books?” I get asked those types of questions a lot and, as an avid reader and all-around bibliophile, I’m always happy to oblige. I also like to encourage people to read as much as possible because knowledge benefits you much like compound interest. The more you learn, the more you know; the more you know, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. On the flip side, I also believe there’s little hope for people who aren’t perpetual learners. Life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic, and it slowly suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So, if you’re a bookworm on the lookout for good reads, or if you’d like to get into the habit of reading, this book club for you. The idea here is simple: Every month, I’ll share a book that I’ve particularly liked, why I liked it, and several of my key takeaways from it. I’ll also keep things short and sweet so you can quickly decide whether the book is likely to be up your alley or not. Alright, let’s get to the takeaways. Timestamps: 0:00 - Please leave a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure to subscribe! 4:28 - Triumph Male & Female are 25% off this week only! Go to buylegion.com/triumph and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% on anything else you order or get double reward points! Mentioned on the Show: Triumph Male & Female are 25% off this week only! Go to buylegion.com/triumph and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% on anything else you order or get double reward points!

Do artificial sweeteners sabotage your weight loss efforts? What are the benefits of cyclical dieting? How quickly do you lose muscle if you stop going to the gym? What does delayed gratification have to do with success? Some people—my favorite people—listen to most or even all of my podcasts, but my wizbang analytics tell me that while many listeners tune in on a regular basis, they don’t catch every installment of Muscle for Life and thus miss out on insights that could help them do at least a little better inside and outside the gym. That’s why I do “best of” episodes that contain a few of the most practical and compelling ideas, tips, and moments from the more popular episodes I’ve published over the years. This way, you can learn interesting insights that you might have otherwise missed and find new episodes of the show to listen to. So, in this installment of The Best of Muscle for Life, you’ll be hearing hand-picked morsels from three episodes: Alan Aragon on Artificial Sweeteners, Refeeds, Protein Timing, and More! (Originally published 6/8/2020) How Fast Do You Lose Muscle When You Stop Working Out? (Originally published 7/12/2019) Motivation Monday: The Great Art of Sacrifice (Originally published 10/2/2017) And we’ll be starting with number one, Alan Aragon on artificial sweeteners, refeeds, protein timing, and more. Timestamps: 0:00 - My free meal planning tool: buylegion.com/mealplan 2:55 - Alan Aragon on Artificial Sweeteners, Refeeds, Protein Timing, and More! 17:24 - How Fast Do You Lose Muscle When You Stop Working Out? 23:22 - Motivation Monday: The Great Art of Sacrifice Mentioned on the Show: Want a free meal planning tool that figures out your calories, macros, and micros, and allows you to create custom meal plans for cutting, lean gaining, and maintaining in under 5 minutes? Go to https://buylegion.com/mealplan and download the tool for free!

In this podcast, I interview Anne-Marie, who did three months of Legion’s VIP one-on-one coaching program to get “unstuck” in her fitness journey, improve her body composition, and feel better and healthier at 45 than ever before. And the best part is she started my Thinner Leaner Stronger program in her 40s, so the lesson here is it’s never too late to get started.Anne-Marie had always been relatively fit, but before she found my work, she did a lot of running and didn’t know what to do in the weights section of the gym. Like many fitness folk who start without a plan, she wandered from machine to machine without much to show for it in terms of results.Then she read Thinner Leaner Stronger and things started to click. She finally knew what to do in the weight room and enjoyed tracking her lifts and seeing the progress over time.But like many other people in her shoes, there was a “missing piece” and she eventually got stuck in a training rut. It turns out that missing piece was nutrition and tracking her macros, which is why she decided to sign up or my VIP Coaching. Her coach taught her everything she needed to know and Anne-Marie immediately noticed the differences proper nutrition could make in her health and fitness. She made huge leaps in her body composition and even her sleep and mood have improved.Since then, Anne-Marie has gone on to start competing and she’s had a lot of success so far, which we’ll talk about in the interview. We also discuss her training history, how she planned workouts while caring for her young daughter, how proper training has changed her weight and body composition, her future competing plans, and more.So if you’re looking for a jolt of inspiration and like motivational stories, definitely listen to this episode.Timestamps:0:00 - Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching:https://muscleforlife.show/vip5:24 - Where were you with your fitness before you found me and my work?8:01 - What was your previous diet?9:05 - Are you doing more strength training than before?10:43 - How did you find me and my work?17:32 - How has your weight changed?20:18 - Did you feel any intimidation going to the gym?21:50 - How long did it take for you to get comfortable at the gym?22:31 -  How did you make time to workout 3 times a week when you first started?30:03 - How was your diet and nutrition journey?32:05 - How did your body react to higher protein intake?39:24 -  What made you want to compete?41:14 - How did you prepare for the competition?43:35 - How did the two shows go?46:59 - Have you learned anything interesting that you would like to share to other women that want to compete?50:01 - How were you feeling going into the competition?52:08 - What was it like after competing?57:49 - Where can people find you?Mentioned on the show:Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching:https://muscleforlife.show/vipThinner Leaner Stronger: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/thinner-leaner-stronger/

I have some bad news for you. Unfortunately, many people in your life are not going to take your fitness seriously. The good news, though, is you can just shrug them off. You don't need their permission to take your fitness as seriously as you need to. You don't need to be ashamed to make time for it and defend that time. Without regular exercise and without regular strength training in particular, health and vitality inevitably decay. Your health and your vitality are not just parts of your life. They quite literally are your life. So by refusing to spend a few hours per week on your fitness, what you're basically saying is “I don't care about my life.” Listen to this podcast for a bit of workout motivation! Timestamps: 0:00 - Please leave a review of the show wherever you listen to podcasts and make sure to subscribe! 2:49 - The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/the-little-black-book-of-workout-motivation/ Mentioned on the Show: The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation is a bestselling fitness book that helps you overcome the mental blocks that are keeping you unmotivated, unhappy, and unhealthy: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/the-little-black-book-of-workout-motivation/

Does bench press grip width matter? How does collagen protein compare with whey even when it’s spiked with leucine? Are keto diets better for weight loss? CanRhodiola rosea boost performance? Do pre-performance routines affect performance? This is what the latest research says about these questions.This podcast is part of a new series I’m going to call Research Roundups. What is it going to be? Well, there is a ton of scientific research that gets published every year, and even if you narrow your focus to fitness research, it would still take several lifetimes to unravel the hairball of studies on nutrition, training, supplementation, and related fields.That's why my team and I put a lot of time into reviewing, dissecting, and describing scientific studies in articles, podcasts, and books. And while the principles of proper eating and exercising are relatively simple and fairly immutable at this point, new research can help us understand why the fundamentals work. They can help us understand how to better implement them, and how to get better results with them.And occasionally every so often there are new and better methods of eating, exercising, supplementing, and living to achieve our health and fitness goals faster. And so in this series of episodes, you’re going to learn about new research on various things related to building muscle, losing fat, getting healthy, improving wellbeing, and so on.In today's episode, I'm going to be talking about the bench press grip, whether or not keto is better than normal dieting for weight loss, how pre-performance rituals can enhance your physical performance, and more. So listen if you want to learn the answers to those questions and more.Oh and if you like this type of episode, let me know. Send me an email (mike@muscleforlife.com) or direct message me onInstagram (@muscleforlifefitness). And if you don’t like it, let me know that too or how you think it could be better.Timestamps0:00 - Want a free meal planning tool that figures out your calories, macros, and micros, and allows you to create custom meal plans for cutting, lean gaining, and maintaining in under 5 minutes? Go to https://buylegion.com/mealplan and download the tool for free!3:39 - How does bench press grip affect the muscles being trained?6:58 - What influence does the keto diet have on body composition?9:47 - How does collagen protein compare to whey? Why don’t you sell a collagen protein?13:10 - What are the effects of Rhodiola rosea?16:00 - What is the effectiveness of pre-performance routines?Mentioned on the Show:Want a free meal planning tool that figures out your calories, macros, and micros, and allows you to create custom meal plans for cutting, lean gaining, and maintaining in under 5 minutes? Go to https://buylegion.com/mealplan and download the tool for free!

If you’ve decided you want some help getting fit, finding a coach can be a daunting task. In these days with social media, the barrier to entry to becoming an online coach is lower than ever, and potential clients are left spoiled for choice. Too much choice can paradoxically leave us overwhelmed and exhausted, as we develop decision fatigue and unintentionally start tipping the scales towards maximizing instead of “satisficing.”Unfortunately, with so many potential coaches out there, there’s no shortage of bad coaches either. Or there may be plenty of “good” coaches that simply aren’t a good fit for you and your goals and needs. That’s why I’m talking with Jonathan Goodman in this interview all about how to find a coach worth hiring.Jonathan knows a lot about both good and bad trainers because his business is based on making coaches better at what they do. He created the first-ever certification for online fitness trainers, the Online Trainer Academy, which teaches online coaches how to earn more money and better serve their clients. Jonathan has also written several books on the topic, and is a host on the Online Trainer Show, a podcast full of advice for fitness professionals looking to build an online career.While I’ve built my own onlinecoaching program, there are people for whom my program isn’t a good fit. So whether you want to work with my team or not, the information in this podcast can help you think about what you need in a trainer and start the process of finding a good one.In our conversation, Jonathan talks about  . . .Different places to look for a trainer (and what matters most in finding one)Trainer certifications and qualifications (what to look for and what to ignore)Red flags to watch out for when hiring a coachWhen you should fire a coachHis new (free) tool for sending training programs to clientsAnd more . . .So, if you want some advice on how to find a good coach for you, and don’t mind some marketing, business building, and entrepreneurship tangents along the way, listen to this podcast!Timestamps:0:00 - Try Phoenix risk-free today! Go to buylegion.com/phoenix and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% or get double reward points!3:31 - How is it like working from home?10:07 - How do you find a good trainer?19:39 - Where can we find a trainer?25:52 - Are a trainer’s qualifications and certifications important?1:21:26 - What are some red flags when looking for a trainer?1:28:27 - When should people consider finding a new coach?Mentioned on the Show:Try Phoenix risk-free today! Go to buylegion.com/phoenix and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% or get double reward points!QuickCoah:https://quickcoach.fit/Online Trainer Academy: https://www.theptdc.com/otaJonathan Goodman’s Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/itscoachgoodman/?hl=en

Is three heavy sets of deadlifts too much? Why do I include three sets of deadlifts when other programs include just one heavy set of 5 reps? Do compound lifts in general cause central nervous system (CNS) fatigue?I’ve written and recorded a lot of evidence-based content over the years on just about everything you can imagine related to building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy.I’ve also worked with thousands of men and women of all ages and circumstances and helped them get into the best shape of their lives.That doesn’t mean you should blindly swallow everything I say, though, because let’s face it—nobody is always right about everything. And especially in fields like diet and exercise, which are constantly evolving thanks to the efforts of honest and hardworking researchers and thought leaders.This is why I’m always happy to hear from people who disagree with me, especially when they have good arguments and evidence to back up their assertions.Sometimes I can’t get on board with their positions, but sometimes I end up learning something, and either way, I always appreciate the discussion.That gave me the idea for this series of podcast episodes: publicly addressing things people disagree with me on and sharing my perspective.Think of it like a spicier version of a Q&A.So, here’s what I’m doing:Every couple of weeks, I’m asking myInstagram followers what they disagree with me on, and then picking the more common or interesting contentions to address here on the podcast.And in this episode, I’ll be tackling the following . . .“3 heavy sets of deadlifts is too taxing. It should be 1 set of 5 like Starting Strength.”Timestamps:0:00 - Try Fortify risk-free today! Go to buylegion.com/fortify and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% or get double reward points!4:08 - What is the central nervous system?7:01 - What are the effects of deadlifting on your central nervous system?8:23 - What does research say about deadlifting and central nervous system fatigue?11:54 - Why do the most proven strength training programs only include one set of deadlifts per week?13:21 - What are the deadlifting recommendations in your program?Mentioned on the Show:Try Fortify risk-free today! Go to buylegion.com/fortify and use coupon code MUSCLE to save 20% or get double reward points!

Discover the benefits of barbell exercises for gaining muscle and strength. Learn about the best barbell exercises for the bench press, back, shoulders, legs, and arms. Explore the importance of core training and how to incorporate barbell exercises into your workout routine.

Aging is an inevitable part of life. But just because we get older doesn’t mean we have to stop doing the physical activities and sports we love, get injured, or accept the role of geriatric couch potato. That’s why I brought Dr. Kevin Stone onto the podcast to discuss athleticism, injury prevention and recovery, joint health, and staying fit as we age. Dr. Stone is a world-renowned expert in sports medicine and orthopaedics, and his work at The Stone Clinic as an orthopaedic surgeon and in the field of joint replacement and treatment has resulted in 50 patents and various publications, grants, and awards. He’s also the Chairman of the Stone Research Foundation, which is a non-profit that pushes forward the science of accelerating healing and treating injured joints. Beyond the operating room, Dr. Stone also has expertise and practical knowledge from working with athletes of all types and ages. He’s worked with the US Ski Team, the US Pro Ski Tour, the Marin Ballet, the Smuin Ballet, the Modern Pentathlon at the US Olympic Festival, and the US Olympic Training Center. And his new book, Play Forever, is all about staying injury-free and helping you do what you love until age 100 and beyond. In our discussion, Dr. Stone and I talk about . . . Listening to your body and knowing the difference between bad pain and soreness The field of stimulating the body to accelerate healing, particular in regards to joints "Joint nutrition" like lubrication, stem cells, and PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatments How mindset impacts performance and injury Using injury to come back stronger Diet considerations while recovering from injury or surgery And more . . . So, if you want to learn about cutting-edge joint therapies, the science of joint health, and practical tips of how to stay fit and healthy as you age, you’re going to love this podcast! Timestamps: 0:00 - Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: https://muscleforlife.show/vip 6:20 - How can we mitigate the negative performance effects of aging? 7:40 - Does aging affect our natural ability to recover from training? 8:14 - How can we play at a level that is fun? 11:55 - How do you know when your body is telling you to stop working out? 15:38 - How do you balance recovery and working out every day? 17:04 - Can you explain lubrication, PRP, and stem cell derivative treatments? 21:17 - Would it make sense to have PRP treatments with healthy joints? 22:45 - Are there any food or supplements you like for joint health and joint function? 25:07 - How much water is enough and what is the proper way to drink water? 27:23 - What role does mindset play in the ability to recover from an injury? 30:33 - What are some signs you are developing arthritis? 33:23 - What are your thoughts about injuries affecting future performances? 35:25 - Do you have any diet tips when recovering from an injury? Is being in a calorie deficit harmful? 38:01 - Where can we find you? Mentioned on the Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: https://www.muscleforlife.show/vip Play Forever: https://www.amazon.com/Play-Forever-Recover-Injury-Thrive/dp/1544526768/?tag=mflweb-20 The Stone Clinic: www.stoneclinic.com The Stone Research Foundation: www.stoneresearch.org