Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

Women face quite a few unique challenges that have downstream effects in their fitness journeys. You know, things like intimidation and peer pressure to stay near the cardio equipment at the gym and away from the weight section.And then there’s the whole pregnancy and having kids thing.To speak to these challenges, I invited Maria Blacutt onto the podcast. Maria is a personal trainer and mother of three who stays lean and strong in her 50s. She also started lifting 30 years ago in Bolivia in a male-dominated gym, so she knows first hand about the challenges women face.Maria found her own way in the fitness world and discovered the benefits of heavy weight training and compound lifting. Finding my work has helped solidify what she discovered, though, and now she shares my content with her own clients.In this episode, Maria and I chat about …How she got strong and stayed fit while raising three young childrenWhy many women give up after having kidsThe most important lessons she’s learned over her 30-year lifting careerWhy consistency is more important than perfectionHow she maintains 18% body fat in her 50sAnd more …So, tune in if you want to learn how to get fit while raising children and how to stay lean and strong as you get older.7:22 - How did you get into fitness?15:53 - How did you manage to work out when you had kids?27:25 - How long did it take for you to feel fit after having a baby?29:23 - How have things changed now that you’re older? What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned?34:18 - What type of foods do you get your protein from?43:43- Do you feel like the fitness journey has been hard?50:54 - How did you come across me and my work? How did that impact things?---Mentioned on The Show:Maria's Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/strongmariastrong/Save 15% on fat burners:https://legionathletics.com/products/fat-burners/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

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 . . .5:38- Are full body splits better than upper lower?29:21 - Is long distance running bad for building a lean physique?36:53 - Do fat burners actually work?---Mentioned on The Show:Save 15% on fat burners:https://legionathletics.com/shop/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here:https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

If you’re having trouble losing weight and keeping it off…If you’re battling hunger and cravings…If you want to “reset” your system after a period of poor health habits…Or if you generally just feel like crap…You might find yourself seriously considering some sort of “detox diet.”The yoga girl swears by a 3-day water cleanse. The smiley doctor guy says a juice diet can give you a shiny new liver. The raw food weirdo gushes about the wonders of eating everything uncooked. And don’t get me started about the Instagram “models” smugly posing with their green smoothies and kale chips.The more you look, the more cleanses and detox programs you find, with each one apparently better than the last.The problem, however, is all of them are missing the forest for the trees.While it’s true your body is regularly exposed to a wide variety of toxic substances, and while some of them are particularly nasty and can accumulate in body fat, there’s no evidence that trendy “cleanses” and “detox diets” help mitigate the damage or rid the body of toxins.That is, yes, your body has a certain amount of harmful chemicals deposited in its fat stores, but no, drinking a bunch of lemonade for a week isn’t going to do anything about it.If you want to feel and look great for the rest of your life, you need to commit to several things:- Exercising your body several hours per week (resistance training is particularly important).- Eating a lot of high-quality food with special emphasis on plenty of fruits and vegetables.- Not smoking.- Consuming alcohol in moderation.- Avoiding dependencies on drugs and medicines.- Maintaining good sleep hygiene.So, if you want to know why you should stop trying to detox your body, listen to this episode!---Timestamps6:15 - Do toxins cause weight gain? What causes weight gain?22:52 - What are toxins and how does the body process them?28:23- Do detox diets help with rapid weight loss?---Mentioned on The Show:Shop Legion Supplements Here: legionathletics.com/shop/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Poke around online for weight loss tips, and you’ll invariably come across the idea that you shouldn’t eat at night.Why?Proponents of this idea usually claim that your metabolism doesn’t work as well at night, and thus any calories you eat are more likely to be stored as fat instead of being burned for energy.Sounds ... kind of scien-y-ish ... but is it true?Does your metabolism really slow down as the day drags on?Are calories eaten in the evening inherently more fattening than calories eaten in the morning?Can eating more calories in the morning and fewer calories in the evening really help you lose weight?You’ll learn the answers to all of these questions in this podcast.You’ll learn exactly why people think eating at night makes you gain weight, what really causes weight gain (hint: it’s not eating at night), and what science actually says about how late-night eating affects your metabolism.Let’s get to it!the morning?3:43 - Does your metabolism get slower as the day goes on? Is your metabolism at its highest in the morning?9:14 - Does intermittent fasting help you lose body fat?18:29 - Does eating at night reduce your quality of sleep?---Mentioned on The Show:Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

“My Life-Changing 30-Day Digital Detox”“10 Signs You’re a Smartphone Zombie”These are headlines you might see if you search the interwebz for digital “addiction.”It’s no secret that people use their smartphones, social media, and various apps more than ever before.The benefits of this technology are obvious, but there’s also a downside. We end up distracted, spending too much time on things that don’t matter, with less time for things that are important to us, like our health, families, and life goals.But are these modern technologies really a new, unique problem? How can we navigate a world filled with limitless distractions?To help shed some light on the topic, I invited Nir Eyal onto the podcast. Nir knows both sides of this coin intimately.His first book, Hooked, is all about how to build habit-forming products. He's helped numerous companies (including the New York Times) build “addictive” products that can do good in your life and he’s even taught a course on the subject at Stanford Graduate School of Business.But by being so intertwined with the inner workings of habit-formation, Nir also knows how to break habits and make these apps and services serve us rather than the other way around.That’s why Nir wrote his latest book, Indistractable, which is what this podcast is all about. In this interview, Nir helps us understand ...- The root causes of distraction and how productive tasks can still be distractions - Why you shouldn't try to be satisfied or happy all of the time - How to "surf the urge" and supercharge your willpower - Why you should timebox your day - How to discover your values and find what resonates with you - And more ...So if you want to take back your life and not feel so addicted to apps and services, listen to this podcast.8:13 - You went from writing a book about getting people hooked on products, to a book that is intended to help people avoid that. How did that happen?16:38 - What is the difference between external and internal triggers?22:20 - How do we get better at embracing discomfort?49:33 - How does time boxing work and how do you use it?53:04 - What are your thoughts on finding your personal values?---Mentioned on The Show:Indistractable by Nir Eyal: NirAndFar.com/Indistractable Schedule Maker Tool: nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/ Summary Article: www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/ Distraction Guide here: www.nirandfar.com/distractions/ Habits vs routines article here: www.nirandfar.com/habits/ Nir's Instagram: www.instagram.com/neyal99/Books by Mike Matthews: 

This episode is part of a weekly series that I have dubbed “Motivation Monday.”(Yes, I know, very creative of me. What can I say, I’m a genius…)Seriously though, the idea here is simple:Every Monday morning, I’m going to post a short and punchy episode that I hope gets you fired up to tackle the workouts, work, and everything else that you have planned for the week ahead.As we all know, it’s one thing to know what you want to do, but it’s something else altogether to actually make yourself do it, and I hope that this series gives you a jolt of inspiration, energy, and encouragement to get at it.So, if you like what you hear, then make sure to check back every Monday morning for the latest and greatest installment.---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

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:- What is positive nitrogen balance? - How bad is sitting? - How can you lose muscle from specific body parts?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:legionathletics.com/sitting-is-the-new-smoking/legionathletics.com/energy-balance/Timestamps:3:36 - Can you lose fat and build muscle at the same time if you maintain a positive nitrogen balance?14:57 - How do I lose muscle from a specific body part?26:24 - How detrimental is sitting?---Mentioned on The Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

You’re about to start a weight loss diet.You know you need to eat fewer calories than you burn.You know roughly how much you need to eat every day to lose weight.Maybe you even have a meal plan mapped out.But there’s still one question you haven’t been able to answer: how long should you stay in a calorie deficit?If you poke around online you’ll see different theories about the “ideal” length of time you should stay in a deficit before giving your body a break.Some say you should diet no longer than 12 weeks.Others say you can diet as long as you want.And others say you should only stay in a deficit for a few weeks at a time before taking a diet break, giving your body and mind a breather, and then enduring another bout of dieting.Who’s right?Well, here’s the truth of the matter:How long you should spend in a calorie deficit boils down to how fast you can lose fat without losing muscle, and this depends on how much fat you have to lose and how lean you want to get.So, instead of giving you a one-size-fits-all answer like “12 weeks,” I’m going to show you how to decide exactly how long you should stay in a calorie deficit to reach your goal weight.Let’s start by looking at how fast you can lose fat without losing muscle.3:41- How long do I need to be in a calorie deficit?7:07 - How do you calculate how much fat you can lose before you lose muscle?16:48 - How long should i stay in a calorie deficit and when should I take a diet break?23:29 - How do you do a diet break?---Mentioned on The Show:Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Humans are social creatures.We like having our “tribe”—people we can rely on when times get rough or who we can celebrate with when times are good.That said, most of us have experienced negative Nancys who just bring us down. Maybe they’re always complaining, or they’re a business partner not pulling their own weight, or they only share bad news, these people make your life worse when you interact with them.A simple step to make your life better, then, is not only eliminating these people from your life, but avoiding them in the first place.And that’s exactly what I chat with Jordan Harbinger about on this episode of the podcast.In it, we discuss how to foster good relationships, how to avoid “radioactive” people, how to develop a sense of self worth, and “one simple trick” to cultivate a network in just a few minutes a day.In case you’re not familiar with Jordan, he’s been coaching people on relationships and social skills for over 10 years and is the host of the award-winning Jordan Harbinger Show, one of Apple’s most downloaded podcasts.Let’s dive in!11:33 - How can you overcome the scary feeling of making a big change in your life?14:43 - How do you analyze a situation and see how that decision will affect your life?21:21 - Do you think it’s common for a person to stay with someone so they can blame their failures on them?23:14 - Does this also apply to romantic relationships?28:41 - How do you develop a sense of self worth?54:06 - How do you deal with people who bring you down?01:00:22 - How do you cultivate a healthy network?01:06:13 - How do you network under 6 minutes?01:09:01 - What can you bring into this person’s life that can benefit both people?01:23:42 - Where can people find you and your work?---Jordan Harbinger's Website: www.jordanharbinger.com/ Jordan Harbinger's Podcast: www.jordanharbinger.com/subscribe-to-the-podcast/ Jordan Harbinger's Instagram: www.instagram.com/jordanharbinger/Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

As of right now, I’ve produced over 500 episodes of Muscle for Life, totaling over 700 hours of content.I’ve talked about 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 episode of The Best of Muscle for Life, you’ll be hearing hand-picked morsels from three episodes:Jeff Nippard on building your best butt ever The Best Diets and Workouts for Your Body Type MFL Book Club Podcast: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen CoveyAnd we’ll be starting with number one, Jeff Nippard on building your best butt ever.---4:48 - Jeff Nippard on building your best butt ever 19:13 - The best diets and workouts for your body type 26:52 - MFL Book Club Podcast: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey---Mentioned on The Show:https://legionathletics.com/podcast-jeff-nippard/ https://legionathletics.com/body-type-podcast/ https://legionathletics.com/mfl-book-club-podcast-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people/Shop Legion Supplements Here: legionathletics.com/shop/---Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter!Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/