Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

I’ve recorded hundreds of episodes of Muscle for Life on a huge variety of things related to health, fitness, and lifestyle, ranging from the basics of diet and exercise like energy and macronutrient balance and progressive overload and training frequency and volume to fads like the ketogenic and carnivore diet and collagen protein to more unfamiliar territories like body weight set point and fasted cardio. Some episodes resonate with my crowd more than others, but all of them contain at least a few key takeaways that just about anyone can benefit from (that’s what I tell myself at least). And as cool as that is, it poses a problem for you, my dear listener: Ain’t nobody got time for that. Well okay, some people do make the time to 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 get a little better inside and outside the gym. People have also been saying they’d like me to do more shorter, multi-topic episodes, like my Q&As. And so I got an idea: how about a “best of” series of podcasts that contains a few of the most practical and compelling ideas, tips, and moments from my most popular episodes? This way, people who are new to the show can quickly determine if it’s for them or not, and those who enjoy what I’m doing but don’t have the time or inclination to listen to all of my stuff can still benefit from the discussions and find new episodes to listen to. So, in this installment of The Best of Muscle for Life, you’ll be hearing hand-picked morsels from three episodes: 1. Marc Perry on How to Stay Super Lean Year Round (Without Hating Your Life) (Originally published July 18, 2018) 2. How Much Cardio You Should Do (and How Much Is Too Much) (Originally published April 3, 2019) 3. Motivation Monday: Beware the “Self-Made” Myth (Originally published August 27, 2018) And we’ll be starting with number one, Marc Perry on how to stay super lean year-round. 5:44 - Marc Perry on How to Stay Super Lean Year Round (Without Hating Your Life) 16:03 - How Much Cardio You Should Do (and How Much Is Too Much) 24:16 - Motivation Monday: Beware the “Self-Made” Myth --- Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

Every holiday season, you see the same kinds of articles make the rounds: “How to avoid holiday weight gain” “How to keep off the pounds this Thanksgiving” “20 tips to avoid weight gain during the holidays” Each article follows the same stock format, sharing stats about how many pounds of weight you gain between Thanksgiving and New Years, and then giving you a long list of hackneyed weight loss tips like “ditch the added sugar,” or “chew your food slowly,” or “drink water before meals.” It’s not that the stats are wrong or the tips are useless, but at this point, you probably know that eating more calories than you burn is the root cause of weight gain, and the only way to not gain weight is to not eat so much. Of course, during the Holidays, this is easier said than done. You’re surrounded by a cornucopia of delicious, calorie-dense food and separated from your normal routine, which makes it remarkably easy to overeat. So, what should you do about it? What’s the “hack” for avoiding weight gain over the holidays? It’s this: accept that you’ll probably gain a little weight, use some simple strategies to limit the damage while still enjoying your meals, and lose the weight after the holidays with proper dieting. That’s it. Before we get to these strategies, though, let’s examine the whole idea of holiday weight gain in more detail. 11:08 - Expect to gain some weight and to lose it again quickly. 14:18 - Focus on things other than food. 15:32 - Create a calorie buffer before big meals 22:54 - Eat big meals and limit your snacking. 26:30 - Eat lots of protein throughout the holidays, especially on the feast days. 29:07 - Stay active 33:52 - Bring healthy-ish food to the party 35:26 - If you do gain some fat, follow a meal plan to lose it. Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

If you’re a regular here, you know the importance of diet. Macros for body composition, micros for general health, fiber and protein for satiety, yadda yadda yadda . . . But many people forget all about their gut and their diet’s role in gut health. Many people quietly (or loudly . . .) suffer from gastric distress without a clear path to fix their digestive issues. Many people don’t even draw the connection between their digestive system’s performance and their health. The two are tightly intertwined. Scientists have discovered that a healthy bacterial habitat in the gut (microbiome) is a crucial defense against many gastrointestinal diseases, such as inflammatory bowel syndrome (IBS) and disease (IBD), as well as mood disorder, brain dysfunction, stress, anxiety, depression, and even autism. So, it’s not a stretch to say that the state of your gut will determine much of the quality of your life. In this episode, I chat with Stan Efferding all about optimizing gut health through dietary tweaks to alleviate gastric distress and improve health and performance. In case you’re not familiar with Stan, he’s held two all-time raw world powerlifting records and is colloquially known as the “world's strongest bodybuilder.” He’s not all brawn, though. He’s also an entrepreneur who’s built multiple multi-million dollar businesses, including his own Vertical Diet program and meal prep service. In our conversation, Stan and I discuss . . . The benefits of a low-FODMAP diet Why fermented foods are easier to digest Collagen protein versus bone broth Meal prep services and the “vertical diet” The relation of bowel movements to digestive health His diet compliance hacks Why red meat rocks and shouldn’t be eliminated The importance of carbs for performance and why you shouldn’t go keto And more . . . So, if you want to learn how you can tweak your diet to improve your digestive health, give this podcast a listen! 6:13 - Can you go into detail about your meal prep company? 8:54 - What is a low-FODMAP diet? 26:39 - Whats the name of your meal prep company? 28:55 - Why do you use bone broth? 35:05 - Whats the connection between how you poop and how healthy you eat? 38:05 - Why is greek yogurt easily digestible? 55:59 - What are some of your diet compliance strategies or tips and tricks? 1:19:21 - Where can people find you and your work? Mentioned on The Show: Stan Efferding's Website: stanefferding.com/ Stan Efferding's Instagram: www.instagram.com/stanefferding/ Stan Efferding's YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/stanefferding Legion Black Friday Sale: legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

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 a few of the more common or interesting contentions to address here on the podcast.And in this episode, I’ll be tackling the following . . .4:31 - “The 4 to 6 rep range doesn’t suit everyone.”22:07 - “I disagree with the lack of mobility work in your routine.”31:02 - “You can target individual quad muscle with different exercises.”Mentioned on The Show:Legion Black Friday Sale: https://legionathletics.com/shop/---Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

We’re fast-approaching Thanksgiving and the winter holidays, which for many of us, means spending time with family. Well, I don’t trust 2020 the slightest bit, so I’m going to beat it to the punch and spend some time with my mom before it’s expected. (It’s never a bad idea to keep father time on his toes and rattle expectations in such an unpredictable year). Jokes aside, on this episode I’m indeed chatting with my own mother, Laura Matthews, and discussing how her fitness has changed since following my programs. Before Thinner Leaner Stronger, she was athletic and doing ballet, but she wasn’t entirely happy with her physique. After reading my book and following the program, she’s lost fat while gaining muscle and is now in the best shape of her life at the age of 61. In this interview, we talk about her story and the important lessons she’s learned along the way, including what she was doing exercise-wise before reading TLS, how understanding and changing her diet lead to big changes, how she doubled her strength while losing body fat in her first six months, the importance of regular deloads, and more. So if you’re looking for a jolt of inspiration and like motivational stories, I highly recommend you listen to this episode. 9:09 - What were your numbers before and after you read my book? 20:21 - What were some of the diet and exercise obstacles that you had to overcome? 25:21 - Did you notice any positive or negative effects from flipping the carbs and the fat? 28:05 - Did you have to make any adjustments during cutting? --- Mentioned on The Show: Thinner Leaner Stronger: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/thinner-leaner-stronger/ Legion Black Friday Sale: legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

You’ve probably heard a lot of strange ideas about how to get stronger and build muscle. You know, things like drinking a gallon of milk a day, doing ten sets of ten reps of every exercise, sipping flavored water BCAAs between meals, and so forth. And if you’ve put any of these ideas into practice, you’ve also learned they’re more or less all humbug. If you’re following a well-designed strength training program, eating enough protein and slightly more calories than you burn every day, and sleeping at least 8 hours per night, there’s little else you can do to further goose muscle growth or strength gains. That said, it’s you’re doing all of those things, it’s worth exploring what that “little else” might entail. For example, although blood-flow restriction sounds like something from the pages of Fifty Shades of Gray, it’s actually a scientifically validated method for boosting muscle growth and strength. Recently, researchers have uncovered another potential way to increase strength (and thus muscle growth): hyperventilation training. Hyperventilation? Isn’t that what happens when you have a panic attack? Well, yes, it can occur in response to extreme anxiety, but specifically, hyperventilation refers to a situation where rapid, deep breathing causes an imbalance in the ratio of carbon dioxide (CO2) to oxygen (O2) in your blood. When you “overbreathe” (as some people refer to hyperventilation), you exhale CO2 much faster than you inhale O2. This causes the level of CO2 in your blood to plummet, which can lead to a variety of unpleasant side effects like lightheadedness, dizziness, shortness of breath, and intense tingling in your fingers and face, with the effects becoming more intense the longer you hyperventilate . . . . . . which sounds like the last thing you’d want to experience while lifting heavy weights. According to a new study conducted by scientists at Juntendo University, though, hyperventilating briefly—enough to slightly decrease your blood levels of CO2, but not so much that you experience negative effects—may temporarily make you stronger. Keep listening to learn why and how hyperventilating can boost your strength. 5:34 - What is one of the primarily physiological factors that limits our performance in workouts? 14:14 - How do you hyperventilate? Mentioned on The Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: https://legionathletics.com/coaching/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

I’ve churned through over 150,000 emails, social media comments and messages, and blog comments in the last 6 years. And that means I’ve fielded a ton of questions. As you can imagine, some questions pop up more often than others, and I thought it might be helpful to take a little time every month to choose a few and record and share my answers. So, in this round, I answer the following three questions: “How do you build your vocabulary?” “What do I think of highly processed oils?” “What’s your take on eating one meal a day?” If you have a question you’d like me to answer, leave a comment below or if you want a faster response, send an email to mike@muscleforlife.com. Recommended reading for this episode: https://legionathletics.com/reason-to-read/ https://legionathletics.com/fish-oil/ Timestamps: 4:00 - How do you build your vocabulary? 17:59 - What do you think about highly processed oils? 26:26 - What are your thoughts on one meal a day? Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

I’ve recorded hundreds of episodes of Muscle for Life on a huge variety of things related to health, fitness, and lifestyle, ranging from the basics of diet and exercise like energy and macronutrient balance and progressive overload and training frequency and volume to fads like the ketogenic and carnivore diet and collagen protein to more unfamiliar territories like body weight set point and fasted cardio. Some episodes resonate with my crowd more than others, but all of them contain at least a few key takeaways that just about anyone can benefit from (that’s what I tell myself at least). And as cool as that is, it poses a problem for you, my dear listener: Ain’t nobody got time for that. Well okay, some people do make the time to 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 get a little better inside and outside the gym. People have also been saying they’d like me to do more shorter, multi-topic episodes, like my Q&As. And so I got an idea: how about a “best of” series of podcasts that contains a few of the most practical and compelling ideas, tips, and moments from my most popular episodes? This way, people who are new to the show can quickly determine if it’s for them or not, and those who enjoy what I’m doing but don’t have the time or inclination to listen to all of my stuff can still benefit from the discussions and find new episodes to listen to. So, in this installment of The Best of Muscle for Life, you’ll be hearing hand-picked morsels from three episodes: Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks (Originally published April 5, 2019) The Definitive (and Practical) Guide to Muscle Hypertrophy (Originally published January 16, 2019) My Top 5 Takeaways from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (Originally published Jan 7, 2019) And we’ll be starting with number one, Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks. 5:29 - Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks 14:48 - The Definitive (and Practical) Guide to Muscle Hypertrophy 24:30 - My Top 5 Takeaways from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene --- Mentioned on The Show:  Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks: https://legionathletics.com/layne-norton-mini-cuts-mini-bulks/ The Definitive (and Practical) Guide to Muscle Hypertrophy: https://legionathletics.com/muscle-hypertrophy-podcast/ My Top 5 Takeaways from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene: https://legionathletics.com/48-laws-of-power-podcast/ Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

I write a lot. Between my books and blog, I’ve written (er, typed) tens of millions of words on various topics ranging from building big guns (biceps) to literal gun rights, from calories and macros to history and religion, from habits and motivation to actually getting smarter, and many excursions everything in between. So it’s not surprising that many people who are interested in writing ask me how to get started, about the writing process, how to get better at it, and how to break into the content creation game. To help address this topic, I invited a veteran expert, Lou Schuler, onto the podcast. In case you’re not familiar with Lou, he’s the Editorial Director of the Personal Trainer Development Center (Jonathan Goodman’s online training coaching company) and an award-winning journalist who’s spent decades writing fitness articles for Men’s Fitness and Men’s Health, as well as his own books, including The New Rules of Lifting series and The Lean Muscle Diet (with Alan Aragon). He’s even delved into the world of fiction, so he’s more than just a health and fitness writing guru. In this podcast, we chat about all things writing, including . . . How writing is different from other content creation Why you probably shouldn't write unless you really enjoy it The important of knowing your audience The value of self-editing (and how to do it) Why writing is hard (and should be) Dealing with drafts and coming back to them with fresh eyes And more . . . So, if you want to learn some key lessons Lou has learned from decades of writing in the fitness space, give this episode a listen! 10:04 - How do you get into the writing business? 46:28 - What does your self editing process look like? 58:10 - Do you tend to sit on something you’ve written and come back to it at a later time? Mentioned on The Show: Lou Schuler's books, blogs, and articles: www.louschuler.com/ Shop Legion Supplements Here: legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

If you want to lose weight, one of the most helpful things you can do is start tracking your calorie intake. This improves your awareness of how much you’re eating, where you can cut back, and how to budget your calories so as to eat your favorite foods while still losing weight. Many people take this a step further and start tracking their calorie expenditure (“burn”) using an activity tracker like a FitBit, Apple Watch, or Jawbone. If you’ve used one of these trackers, though, you’ve probably noticed that on some days you burn a lot more calories than others. A hike, bike ride, or jog can jack up your calorie expenditure by several hundred calories. In this case, the person set a daily calorie budget of 2,000 calories, and they’d already eaten and tracked all of those calories. But they also went on a bike ride that burned 327 calories, which opens the question . . . should you “eat back” those ~300 calories? Even if you don’t use an activity tracker, you’ve probably wondered the same thing: if you burn more calories on a particular day, should you eat more to compensate? The short answer is that no, you probably shouldn’t eat back the calories burned during exercise. If you want to know why this is the case and learn a better way to manage your calorie intake that doesn’t depend on activity trackers or constantly balancing your daily calorie budget in this way, keep listening. Timestamps: 2:51 - The problem with eating back calories 20:06 - Does that really work if your actual calorie expenditure changes a lot day to day? --- Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/