Muscle for Life

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 g

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

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 str

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): h

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:

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.

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 w

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 mor

“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

What’s the deal with athletic footwear? On the one hand, you have fancy, expensive running and sports shoes coming out every couple of months claiming some new technological “breakthrough” for more comfort, safety, and even performance. And then you have the crowd that dismisses those products as pure marketing puffery and that swears by minimalist shoes for all athletics or even none at all. What are we supposed to make of this? I’m no expert when it comes to running or the best footwear for healthy feet, so I invited someone onto the podcast who is. Specifically, my guest is Steven Sashen, who’s a Masters All-American sprinter—meaning he’s one of the fastest men over the age of 50 in the US—as well as the founder of Xero Shoes, a brand dedicated to designing thin and flexible shoes for walking, running, and all other athletic activities. In this episode, we chat about . . . The truth behind the “Big Shoe” marketing machine Why more padded shoes can be worse for your joints How to pick a good training

Mosy around any gym, and you’ll see some dudes lifting heavyweights they can't even lift. And a few questions come to mind. Is he really getting anything out of those reps? Is he just doing that to stroke his ego? Should I train like that? Some say yes, that partial reps, or repetitions where you only complete part of the movement, lead to superior gains in strength and size. Others say that unless you take every single rep in your training through the full range of motion, you’re cheating. This pretty much sums up their view: "Your reps are partial and you should feel bad." The truth? They’re both wrong, and you’re going to learn why in this podcast. By the end of this episode, you’ll know the pros and cons of a partial and full range of motion reps, how each affects muscle growth, and when you should and shouldn’t use both in your training. 3:12 - What is a partial rep? 6:02 - Why do people do partial reps? 7:20 - Do partial reps make sense? 18:01 - How do you program in partial reps? Mentioned on The Sho

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: “I burn a lot of calories at work and have a hard time gaining weight and training hard because of low energy levels. What should I do?” “I wake up tired even when I sleep 7 or 8 hours. What can I do?” “Have you had any long term training beliefs changed by research in the last year or two?” 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. 4:22 - “I burn a lot of calories at work and have a hard time gaining weight and training hard because of low energy levels. What should I do?” 28:28 - “I wake up tired e

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.

Politics and religion—the two taboo topics you’re never supposed to bring up on a first date. Podcasting is similar. Unless your show is explicitly on either of these subjects, as soon as you even comment on them, the “stay in your lane” comments and emails start flying. Well, I’ve never been one for orthodoxy, so here we are, with yet another deviation from the usual fitness content—a discussion with my friend and fellow podcaster and author Pat Flynn on religion, and specifically why us moderns should care about it more, not less. In case you’re not familiar with Pat, he’s a fitness expert known for his kettlebell prowess, a podcaster, and author with several books to his name, including his most recent How to Think About God, which is an illuminating, philosophical look at faith. Pat’s also a philosopher by training who has made the spiritual trek from atheism to catholicism, so he has not only read widely and thought deeply about this stuff, he also understands what it’s like to be all over the spectrum o

As a woman, you face some challenges that guys don’t. One of the most obvious is the menstrual cycle. Not only can this affect your mood and daily routine, but it can also throw your diet and training plans for a loop. If you’ve read anything about the science behind good ol’ Aunt Flo, then you probably know that it can affect your metabolism, how easily your body stores fat, and your appetite. Your hunger and cravings intensify and your energy and enthusiasm for training wane during your period, all of which works to sabotage your fitness routine. What should you do when this happens? Should you stop training and start eating whatever you want, and then try to make up the damage later? Should you force yourself to stick to your normal diet and training plan, gutting it out until you feel good again? Or, should you modify your diet and training plan to minimize the meddling of your menses? And if so, how? You’re going to learn the answers to all of these questions in this podcast. You’ll learn . . . What sc

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

“Hey Mike, any advice on becoming an online coach?” “How can I start my own fitness business?” As an entrepreneur and creator of several successful businesses in the fitness space, I’m often asked how people can break into the industry themselves. I can understand the enthusiasm. Lots of people who go through a life-changing fitness journey end up wanting to help others make similar changes in their own lives. That was certainly the case for me. While I’ve built my own thriving online coaching program, I came at it from a different angle--I already had a niche carved out for myself in the fitness world that I could use as a platform to build from. Not everyone has the books, blog, or podcast to launch a new coaching business, so to help people just starting out, I thought I’d talk to an expert. In this episode, I chat with Jonathan Goodman, who created the first-ever (and only!) certification for online fitness trainers, the Online Trainer Academy. This is a program specifically for online coaches, teaching t

“It seems so easy for her to eat healthy all the time, I wish I could stick to that kind of diet.” “I wish I had the work ethic to show up to the gym every day like that guy.” “Why is it so easy for other people to stay lean even through the holidays?” Chances are good you’ve had one of these thoughts or know someone who has. And once you understand the relatively simple levers you need to pull to get in shape—controlling your calorie intake, lifting weights, eating enough protein, and so forth—it’s making yourself pull these levers every day that leads to long-term progress. So why is it so hard to actually do these things? Why do we get up early to go to the gym for a few weeks before succumbing to the temptation to hit the snooze button? Why do we eat more home-cooked meals of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats for a month or two, only to fall back into the habit of getting takeout multiple times per week? Well, the unfortunate answer is this is simply our genetic hardwiring in action. We see

Deciding which muscle groups to train together can be confusing. Most people say chest and triceps should be trained together, since they’re both involved in bench and overhead pressing. Others say you should train biceps with chest because your arms will still be fresh after benching, so you might as well train them together. Arnold was known for training his chest and back together, and if that was good enough for The Oak, then it should probably work for you, no? Other people still say that you shouldn’t program your workouts around individual muscle groups at all, but should simply focus on doing a lot of heavy squatting, deadlifting, and bench pressing or full-body training. So, how are you supposed to put all of this into an effective training plan that you enjoy? Well, I have good news for you: There is no “best” way to combine muscle groups together in your training. So long as you understand a few basic principles, there are many ways to combine them into workouts that not only work, but that you enj

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: Is it a good idea to get a pump before hitting the weights? Are pronated grips or neutral grips better for engaging lats? How much does a mask help fight the transmission of viruses? 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. 4:09 - Is it a good idea to get a pump before hitting the weights? 17:41 - Are pronated grips or neutral grips better for engaging lats? 22:07 - How much does a mask help fight the transmission of viruses? --- Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionath