Muscle for Life with 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/

What determines the true limits of our physical performance?It it mostly hard-wired physiological factors that can’t be changed, or is it more nuanced than that?What about psychological factors? How much does the “inner game” affect the “outer game,” and how much is this under our control?People have been searching for answers to these types of questions for decades now, and new research has provided some pretty surprising insights.That’s why I wanted to talk to Alex Hutchinson, who’s been studying all of this for over a decade. In case you don’t know of Alex, he’s an award-winning science journalist, former physicist and national-class runner, regular columnist for publications like Runner’s World, Outside, and The New York Times, and in my opinion is one of the best fitness writers around.He has a new book out called Endure that dives deep into the fascinating science of human performance and potential, and in this interview, he shares with us some of the key takeaways from the extensive research that went into the project as well as some highly practical strategies and techniques we can use to increase our capacity for physical and mental output.4:58 - What are the latest studies on the physical limit for a human? 8:32 - How much does our mental dialogue effect our pain tolerance? 11:06 - How much of our physical pain is determined from preconceived ideas versus our thoughts during the moment? 12:25 - What are some psychological coping strategies to increase your pain tolerance? 15:07 - What is motivational self talk and does it enhance performance? 27:30- What is electric brain stimulation? 35:23 - What is an example of positive self talk? 39:15 - Does your psychological tolerance increase when your physical tolerance increases? 54:53 - Where can people follow you and find your work?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/

Losing weight fast is really easy.Eat as little food and do as much cardio as you can for the next month or two, and you’ll lose weight fast. I promise.You might be disappointed in the end, though, even if you can suffer through it.Why?Because while the scale will proclaim a victory, the mirror will disagree. You may not look as fat as before, but you’re going to look more skinny fat, and that’s not the goal.You see, the standard “starve yourself skinny” approach to dieting burns fat, but it also burns muscle, and that’s no good for your body composition.That’s why your goal shouldn’t be to “lose weight,” but to “lose fat, and not muscle.”And that’s what you’re going to learn about in this episode. You’re going to learn how to lose weight fast, but also how to do it in a way that preserves your muscle (and sanity).It’s pretty easy, too. There are just five steps:1. Use an aggressive (but not reckless) calorie deficit. 2. Eat a high-protein diet. 3. Do a lot of heavy compound weightlifting. 4. Use high-intensity interval training to burn fat faster. 5. Take fat loss supplements that actually work.Let’s go over each.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/

The fitness industry is extremely tough to navigate as a beginner because of the sheer amount of “gurus” proclaiming they have the “secrets” to getting ripped.If you hit the popular fitness sites, you’ll find contradictory advice at every turn.-Some people say you have to eat bland “clean” foods to get ripped, while others will say you can do it eating junk food. -Some say you should focus on higher rep “pump” training, while others say you have to focus on heavy lifting. -Some say you have to eat meals every few hours, while others say meal frequency is irrelevant. -Some say high-protein diets are key, while others say it’s not that important. -Some say genetics play a huge role, while others say they’re barely a factor.How can you know who’s right and who’s wrong? How can you know who to listen to?Well, I used to wrestle with all these issues and have not only escaped the maze but, ironically, have become something of a fitness guru myself. In this episode, I want to share with you 5 criteria you can use to judge if someone is worth listening to or not.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/

Imagine if you could fall asleep easily and quickly.Imagine if you slept deeper and didn’t wake up several times per night.Imagine waking up feeling rested, restored, and rejuvenated.Well, this isn’t supposed to be a fantasy. In fact, it’s how your body is programmed to work.Unfortunately, though, we can screw this programming up through simple, innocent mistakes.Many people making these mistakes and, unwittingly, turn to hypnotics and sedatives to combat their sleep troubles.This opens the door to some rather serious side effects, such as…-Depression -Delirium -Nightmares -Hallucinations -An increased risk of infections, cancer, and overall mortality.Not to mention problems relating to drug tolerance, which necessitates ever-increasing prescriptions and dosages.The good news, though, is many people experiencing sleep troubles don’t need drugs to get a good night’s sleep.Instead, they just need to change some of their daily habits and routines.And that’s what you’re going to get from this episode: 7 science-based strategies to get more and better shuteye.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: www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Today I talk with Steve Magness, an elite-level runner, running coach, exercise physiologist, and author.His latest book, Peak Performance, is a detailed and practical overview of the science of optimizing your mental and physical performance, and in this interview, we discuss some of the key takeaways from the book, including how to use stress and recovery to stimulate progress and growth, how to prime and prepare yourself for optimal performance, and how to avoid overwhelm and burnout.Here’s a little sneak peek of what we talk about:- How much “deep work” can we really do in a day? - A handful of simple recovery strategies we can use in our day-to-day lives. - How self-talk affects our mental and physical state. - How we can positively change the way we view and react to stress. And more…4:30 - What is the stress and recovery model and is it effective? 9:00 - How much time should people do deep work per day? 15:48 - What are some recovery strategies we can use in our day-to-day life? 21:49 - How can we change the way we react to stress? 24:48 - What is tend-and-befriend? 29:40 - How does self talk affect our mental and physical state? 31:37 - What is an example of positive self talk? 56:10 - Where can people follow you and find your work?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/

I’m not sure any of us can say why, but having abs is cool.They’re sexy, something to be proud of. To show off, even. They’re the fitness equivalent of “having arrived.”That’s probably why many people start working out with the sole purpose of getting a six pack.And then the confusion begins.Diet after diet, workout after workout, supplement after supplement, all claiming to be the key to getting a ripped core.Frustration is next.After months of trying anything and everything, still no abs. Just belly flab.Well, if you can relate to any of that, you’ve come to the right place, because in just a few minutes, you’re going to know the exact steps to get abs.And I think you’re going to be happy to see that it’s much easier than you’ve been led to believe by mainstream “gurus.”At bottom, there are just three things you have to do to get the abs you really want:1. Lose the belly fat. 2. Do a lot of heavy compound weightlifting. 3. Do the right ab and core exercises.Yup, that’s it. No “weird tricks” or strange diets or silly supplements.Let’s take a closer look at each of these steps.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 Jared, who recently completed my 90 day coaching program, which helped him lose 23 pounds, 6% body fat, and 5 inches off his waist while also gaining a significant amount of strength on all of his major lifts.Even more impressive is the fact that he did this at 42 years old with a family and a full-time job, and in this interview, he’s going to walk us through his journey. He’s going to share with us what he’d done previously and what worked and what didn’t, how he found his way to me and my coaching service, and how he and his coach worked through a number of challenges and the biggest lessons he learned along the way.4:09 - What was your fitness journey like before starting our coaching program? 7:31 - How did you find us? 9:29 - What are some of the obstacles you had to overcome? 13:11 - What was your body fat and weight before and after our coaching program? 13:52 - Are you currently maintaining or bulking? 21:02 - How did you manage your diet during the holidays? 22:34 - What was your diet while you were cutting? 26:19 - What did your workout program look like? 28:27 - How has being healthy and fit impacted other areas of your life? 30:32 - How has being healthy and fit impacted your psychology?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/

Bulking is a controversial topic.Some say it’s the only way to gain muscle effectively, and others say it’s a relic of the Dark Ages bodybuilding.“You gotta eat big to get big,” the former say. “No,” the latter reply, “you just have to eat right.” That is, traditional bulking maintains that, to achieve maximum muscle growth, you should do whatever it takes to cram down thousands of calories per day (GOMAD, for example), and accept rapid fat gain as a price to be paid.Followers of the new philosophy, however, say that you don’t have to eat a large surplus of food and gain a large amount of body fat to build muscle effectively.If you train right, and ensure you’re recovering adequately, they claim, you don’t need to cudgel your body with calories to grow.Who’s right? Well, both are.Old-school bulkers are correct in that you need to eat more food than usual to build muscle efficiently, and new-schoolers are correct in that ballooning your body fat percentage is not only unnecessary for muscle building, but detrimental.There’s a sweet spot is in the middle, which is where clean bulking enters the picture.It marries what bodybuilders have known anecdotally for decades with what modern scientific research into muscle hypertrophy has revealed, giving you the best of both worlds.In other words, clean bulking allows you to gain muscle as quickly as possible, without forcing you to get fat in the process.And in this episode, we’re going to break it all down.You’re going to learn where “dirty bulking” misses the mark, why clean bulking works better, and how to actually go about doing it.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/