Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

Supersets are a staple of classic bodybuilding workouts.You find them in almost every muscle building magazine, book, and blog, and Golden-era bodybuilders like Franco Columbu, Frank Zane, and Arnold swore by them.But how effective are supersets?And how do they compare to simpler muscle building techniques like increasing volume (reps), frequency, or intensity (load)?Well, the short story is that supersets aren’t inherently good or bad—it all comes down to how you use them. Use them correctly, and they can help you finish your workouts faster without hurting your performance. Use them incorrectly, however, and they’ll probably slow down your progress.Let’s get started.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.muscleforlife.com/signup/

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: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Every so often, a sports supplement comes along that gets everyone excited.That's supposed to "change the game" and push the boundaries of what's naturally achievable. HMB is one of those supplements.It burst onto the scene in 1996 to much fanfare and hoopla, and many thought it was destined to dethrone creatine as the reigning king of natural muscle building molecules.Well, science has now had a couple of decades to look into it, and, well, it didn't quite pan out. Despite what supplement marketers would have you believe, it's not as anabolic as steroids.Ironically, the research shows that it can't even support the label of "muscle builder."That said, it does have some legitimate uses for us fitness folk, so it's not a complete flop.And we're going to break it all down in this podcast.By the end, you're going to know what HMB is, why people supplement with it, how it can benefit you, how much you need to take to see those benefits, what side effects there are, and more.Let’s begin …3:48 - What is HMB 6:03 - Can HMB help you gain muscle faster? 8:55 - Can HMB improve your recovery? 10:30 - Does HMB increase power output? 11:56 - Can HMB help reduce muscle break down rates? 12:44 - How much HMB do you have to take to help reduce muscle breakdown rates? 13:48 - What are the side effects of HMB?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.muscleforlife.com/signup/

If you want to burn calories and lose fat faster without even breaking a sweat, then you've come to the right place.You're not going to need any special equipment, gadgets, or skills.You're not going to need to track your heart rate, time your intervals, or log your miles.All you're going to do is something that you've been doing every day since you were a toddler, and that you'll do for the rest of your life.It's walking, of course, and while it's no high-intensity interval training, it deserves more attention than it gets.That is, it's not the best way to lose fat rapidly, but it's definitely the easiest way to burn additional calories and lose weight faster.So in this episode, you're going to learn why walking is an "unsung hero" of cardio workouts and how to use it to burn more fat without burning yourself out.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.muscleforlife.com/signup/

In this episode I interview Esther, who recently completed my 90-day coaching service and dropped 13 pounds and 12% body fat, while also gaining a ton of strength (when she started the program, she struggled to deadlift the bar, and now she’s approaching her body weight for reps).As with everything, nothing ever goes exactly as planned, and learning to adjust and adapt to conditions is an important part of the fitness game, which is something Esther experienced firsthand.She ran into a number of roadblocks along the way that most of us can relate to, including issues with balancing work with her workouts, getting her meal planning just right, and dealing with hunger and cravings, dietary temptations, peer pressure, and more, and in our chat, Esther shares what has helped her navigate these barriers skillfully and prevent them from getting in her way.So, if you like hearing motivational stories about how people have changed their bodies and lives, and if you want to pick up a few tips that may help you in your personal journey, then this episode is for you.3:52 - What was your fitness story before you started our coaching program? 4:53 - Did you try dieting before our coaching program? 5:58 - What led you to look for diet and exercise solutions? 7:09 - How is your lifestyle so busy? 7:48 - What were your results before and after our coaching program? 13:07 - What was your diet like before you started our coaching program? 16:22 - What was your diet during our coaching program? 20:42 - How did our coaching program build your willpower for diet and exercise? 22:14 - Why was the coaching program difficult for you in the beginning? 32:45 - What was your exercise program during our coaching program? 36:39 - What were your results after our coaching program? 37:35 - What were people’s reactions to your diet and exercise program? 38:28 - What are some myths with women and lifting? 46:28- How has getting fit impact other areas of your life? 51:07 - What’s your plan after our coaching program?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.muscleforlife.com/signup/

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!

God I hate being sick. Truly.I would smoke a handful of Bill Clinton’s cigars if it meant never getting sick again.Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever get an invite to the DC spirit cooking parties, so I’ll have to accept the fact that getting sick is just part of my abject existence as a lowly human.That doesn’t mean I can’t do things to help prevent sickness and reduce the duration and severity when it strikes, and that’s why I got the co-founder and former lead researcher and writer of Examine.com, as well as the Director of Research for my supplement company, Legion Athletics, Kurtis Frank to come on the show and talk immunity.As you’ll discover, this is a muddy topic with a lot of bad research and bad interpretations of research, but Kurtis has spent hundreds of hours reading through dozens and dozens of papers, and in this podcast, he breaks down his findings.So … if you’ve wondered what supplements do and don’t work for improving your immune function, and if changing your diet can really help you get sick less often or recover from illnesses faster, then you want to listen to this show.5:19 - What is the immune system and how does it work? 6:35 - What are the jobs of the cells in the immune system? 8:51 - How do you improve your immunity? 9:25 - Does Vitamin C reduce the severity of sickness? 13:40 - What are your favorite immune system boosters? 19:10 - What is pelargonium? 21:18 - How does pelargonium work? 23:02 - What is akinesia and how does it work? 25:40 - Is garlic good for immunity? 27:30 - What are the benefits of having garlic every day? 28:03 - Is spirulina good for immunity? 29:42 - Are mushrooms good for immunity? 34:58 - What is kombucha? 38:14 - Are probiotics good for immunity? 44:35 - What is a gasotransmitter? 45:58 - What supplements should people take daily to keep a healthy immune system? 47:38 - What are the benefits of Vitamin C? 50:02- What type of mushrooms do you recommend to eat? 57:48 - What’s the easiest way to get potassium in your diet?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.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Whey protein is commonly referred to as the king of protein supplements.Why?Why is whey seemingly the king here when there are numerous types of protein powders out there that all “work”?Do some work better than others and, if so, is it honestly a big enough of a difference to direct a purchasing decision?That’s what we’ll be discussing in this episode. Cataloging the best and worst protein powders and comparing them when comparative data is available.We’re also going to cover the taste and mouth feel of these supplements; it’s one of the times when the user experience of simply taking the supplement matters in ranking.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.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Optimal training frequency is a hotly debated subject.Some people believe that you must train your entire body 2 to 3 times per week or you’re simply doing it wrong, whereas others believe it doesn’t make that much of a difference.Recommendations run the gamut from extremely low workout frequencies (training each major muscle group once per week or less) to extremely high frequencies (training each muscle group 4, 5, or even 6 times per week).Who’s right?That’s what James Krieger and several other researchers wanted to find out in a meta-analysis that was just published just this year in the journal Sports Medicine.They combed through 22 different studies that compared how higher and lower training frequencies affected muscle and strength gains, and in this episode, James is going to break down exactly what they found.You’ll learn how training frequency affects strength gains, how to adjust your training frequency when you progress beyond your “newbie gains,” when increasing your training frequency does more harm than good, and more ...6:23 - Does training frequency and high loads effect your gains when you’re new to weightlifting? 8:08 - What is double progression? 11:02 - What are the effects of resistance training frequency on gains? 20:11 - At what point do you have diminishing returns? 23:09 - Do protein synthesis levels drop after 48 hours? 30:34 - Where can people find you and your workWant 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.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Losing weight is hard.If you don’t agree with that now then spend some time in a gym and meet a few hundred people who do think that. Sometimes you diet and exercise and nothing happens.It gets frustrating at times, knowing that all the hard work you put into changing your body amounted to absolutely nothing.What if you don’t really need to lose weight to be healthy?More and more people are saying that being overweight isn’t necessarily what leads to ill health. It’s just lack of exercise, poor diet, high stress, and other unhealthy habits.This idea is part of a growing movement known as “health at every size,” that states that instead of focusing on weight, people should just focus on eating better, moving more, and practicing good habits, regardless of the outcome.Other people say that, no, your weight does matter, and one of the single best ways to improve your health, live longer, and feel better is to lose weight.Who’s right?Well, the short story is that being overweight or obese is, by definition, unhealthy. The good news, though, is that the amount of body fat it takes to negatively affect your health is probably higher than you might think, and you can keep many of the problems at bay by eating right and exercising.In this episode, you’re going to learn what a healthy weight really is, whether or not exercise and diet can offset the negative effects of being overweight, and when you absolutely should lose weight regardless of how good your other habits are.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.muscleforlife.com/signup/