Muscle for Life

Is there a particular part of your body you want to strip fat from fast? Chances are good if you’ve searched online for answers about this “problem area,” you’ve found recommendations for specific exercises, foods, or supplements. Unfortunately, these solutions are a pipe dream. Fat loss is a simple process, but it’s not perfectly predictable. That is, if you know how to eat and exercise properly, you will lose fat consistently. However, there aren’t clearly defined stages of fat loss that allow you to forecast exactly where you’ll lose the fat from. There are some general patterns to fat loss, though, and these can give you an indication of how and when you’ll lose fat during a cut. This is helpful because it tells us what to expect, which can help us stay on track. That’s what this podcast is all about. Timestamps 5:39 - Where do you lose weight first? 10:24 - Why don’t men see fast results with their belly fat? Why don’t women see fast results with their thighs, butt, and hips? 15:29 - How does blood flow

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 question: How Do I Get Fit as a Shift Worker? 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. Mentioned on the Show: Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

Everyone is new to fitness at some point. No matter how jacked, lean, or athletic someone is right now, there was a day where they stepped foot in the gym for the first time and started taking their fitness seriously. This is good to keep in mind because the gym can be a daunting place when you’re a newbie. What exercises should you do? How heavy should the weights be? How many sets should you do? How often should you exercise? How much should you eat to support your training and what foods? And when should you eat those foods? The questions go on and on ad nauseum. Many people turn to the internet for answers, and when you’re new and inexperienced, you’re especially prone to believing myths, focusing on the wrong things, and making mistakes. You know, things like super high-rep sets to bring out the cuts, skipping breakfast with no carbs after 8 pm, spending more time “researching” and reading magazine articles than training, jumping from routine to routine (“shiny object syndrome”), and “no pain no gain, ba

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 question: How Do I Gain Strength But Not Size? 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. Mentioned on the Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: https://buylegion.com/vip Strength Training: https://legionathletics.com/strength-training-plan/ 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 question: What are your thoughts on plant-derived meat alternatives? 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. 4:36 - What are plant-based meat alternatives? 6:05 - What are the health benefits of plant-based meat alternatives? 13:06 - What is the environmental impact of farming meat versus creating plant-based meat alternatives? Mentioned on the Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: https://buylegion.com/vip Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: 

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.

Body composition refers to how much of your body is composed of body fat versus muscle.  Although most people fixate on their body weight when trying to get in shape, body composition is a much more useful metric to track.  The problem with just tracking your body weight is that if you’re new to proper diet and exercise, you’ll lose fat and build muscle at the same time. Your scale weight may not change significantly for several weeks or months, which rankles dieters to no end.  Even though it may not look like you’re making progress, though, your body composition probably tells a different story.  Thus, your real goal when losing weight should be to improve your body composition—to lose fat and maintain or gain muscle. In this podcast, you’ll learn:  - How to measure body composition. - What it looks like when you build muscle and lose fat simultaneously (with some body composition examples). - What the best body composition analysis tool is. - What the best body composition exercis

“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 wh

There’s no doubt that March 2020 upended hundreds of millions of lives. Here in the US (and a slew of other places around the world), lockdowns began with the aim to flatten the curve. In turn, this self-imposed (and government ordained) isolation has led to innumerable changes in our lives. Changes to what we do and how we work, changes to our relationships and how we interact with people (who had the foresight to buy Zoom stonk??), and changes to our mental health. It’s even changed how we eat and train thanks to closed gyms and unfettered access to our kitchen pantries and cookie jars. The good news is while most of us didn’t want any of this to happen, we didn’t have to let it derail our good habits. There are ways to workout effectively at home, you can still follow a meal plan and not binge on comfort food, and it’s possible to stay sane and productive without leaving your home for more than a daily walk. In fact, me knows a guy named Chase Chewning, who’s especially good at transforming tragedy into tr

This episode is a bit of an anomaly. It’s about applying scientific thinking to our lives and being willing to revise our ideas, beliefs, and actions, and learning one of the most important meta-skills: the ability to change our minds and be willing to admit we were wrong. I think that our ability to accomplish our goals and intentions in any area of our life depends in a very large part on this ability. People who aren’t good at changing their minds, who are very stubborn, very defensive, and who refuse to say sorry, rarely make it. Life runs roughshod over those people and I don't know anyone like that who is successful or doing well in life. I don't just mean financially, either. Sure, that's one component of success, but there are other things that matter like physical and mental health, and the quality of relationships with family, friends, and coworkers. On the flip side, some of the most successful people I know share quite a few traits, and one that’s always stood out is that they don't have a problem

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: If I'm fat will I gain muscle slower when I lean bulk? What’s the best way to eat and train during Ramadan? Have you ever gotten tendonitis/tendonosis from working out and if so how did you recover? 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. Timestamps: 3:47 - If I’m fat will I gain muscle slower when I lean bulk? 24:39 - What’s the best way to eat and train during Ramadan? 32:13 - Have you every gotten tendonitis or tendinosis from working out, and if so, how did you recover? Mentioned on The Show:

If you’ve heard any of my Book Club episodes of the podcast, you know I’m an avid reader and all-around bibliophile. I 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. Life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic, and it slowly suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. That’s why we have to be perpetual learners. That’s also why I get excited when someone writes a good fitness book. I want to get more good information out there into the eyes, ears, and brains of more people, and even though I have my own fitness books, I love to see good information get out there no matter who it’s from. In this case, my friend and fellow fitness professional, Sal Di Stefano of Mind Pump Media, has written such a book. It’s called The Resistance Training Revolution, and Sal joins me on this podcast to talk all about it.

When’s the last time you rocked, rolled, or did a set of head nods? These sound like things you might do at a heavy metal concert (RIP shows and in-person events), but I’m referring to simple exercises and movements you may want to incorporate into your routine. According to my guest on this podcast, Tim Anderson, these movements act as a sort of “reset” that you can use to improve movement quality, reduce pain, improve your sleep, and even lift more weight in the gym. I’ll let Tim get into the nitty-gritty details, but the basic idea is that as we age and spend years of our lives sitting and sedentary, we forget how to move properly. Tim’s “resets” are ways we can restore the original strength and movement patterns we learned when we first started to walk as babies. And I appreciate his unique take on mobility and movement. In case you’re not familiar with Tim, he’s the co-founder of Original Strength where he’s made a career out of helping people young and old improve movement patterns and quality, get stro

Concurrent training is the technical term for including both cardio and strength training in your workout routine. Generally, the goal is to get better at both types of training simultaneously. That is, you’re trying to gain muscle and strength by lifting weights and improve your endurance by going faster and/or further in your cardio workouts. If you’ve spent any time in the fitness space, though, you know that many people claim this is a fool’s errand. These people argue that you can’t effectively adapt to both cardio and strength training at the same time. Instead of improving at both—getting bigger, stronger, and fitter—you just end up being mediocre across the board. In other words, they claim concurrent training turns you into a jack of all trades and a master of none. While there’s a kernel of truth to this idea, scientific research shows it’s more wrong than right. In fact, a growing body of evidence suggests that if you want to get bigger, stronger, leaner, and fitter, combining cardio and strength t

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: Lying or seated ham curls? Thoughts on weight loss medications? How useful are isometric exercises? 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. Timestamps: 4:59 - Which is more effective for the hamstrings, the lying or seated hamstring curl? 10:17 - What are your thoughts on weight loss medications and using them with a high fat cheat meal as a supplement to reduce the amount of fat your body absorbs? 17:49 - How useful or effective are isometric exercises? Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplem

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.

At first blush, the phrase “body positivity” sounds like a wonderful thing. A movement that pushes health and being respectful of your body and proud of your physique can help people eat healthier, exercise, and avoid disease, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and more. Unfortunately, in many ways, extremists have co-opted the publicity, and turned “body positivity” into something that’s no longer fully correlated with health and can actually harm individuals and society as a whole. Some people say you can be perfect, beautiful, and healthy at any weight. No matter what the scale says, or how you feel, you should be proud of who you are. Others are diametrically opposed. They believe people who aren’t in shape should be mocked and ridiculed until they’re motivated enough to start dieting and hitting the gym. If you’ve read much of my work, you know that how much fat you carry around and how much muscle you have has real effects on your health. On the flipside of the coin, you probably intuitively know that s

Many people think building muscle as a vegan is an uphill battle, if not an unwinnable one. Once you understand how much protein you need to build muscle, and how much is in animal foods and how little in plant foods, it’s natural to wonder if you can build any muscle to speak of following a vegan diet. Well, you can, though it’s more difficult than it is for omnivores. The truth is you absolutely can build muscle eating nothing but vegan protein sources—you just have to be more careful about what foods you eat. Let’s kick off this discussion by looking at why it’s usually more difficult for vegans to build muscle than omnivores (and what to do about it!). 2:45 - What are the disadvantages of a plant-based diet when trying to build muscle and strength? 7:44 - What are the 10 best vegan protein sources? 16:38 - What are some on-the-go vegan protein sources? 25:51 - What are some unique sources of plant-based protein? Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://buylegion.com/mike Plant+: http

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 s

I’ve always said if you can change your body, you can change your life. Working out and getting in shape makes us better at everything. So it’s no surprise that many people who start paying attention to their diet and training also start to evaluate other areas of their life. One of those areas is a place where we spend a lot of our waking hours: work. Countless people these days live as zombies--just punching in their time cards as a necessary evil and living for the weekend. And many young people are faced with the daunting task of deciding what they want to do with their life right after they blow out the candles after 18 revolutions around the sun. How do you get out of the rat race? How do you find your dream job? “Follow your passion” is a popular trope, but it’s not necessarily the best advice. Some people get the itch to become an entrepreneur and for good reason. There are many perks to owning your own business, but it’s not for everyone. It’s easy to focus on the pluses without realizing how much wo