Muscle for Life

“One of the most popular ways of telling if you're a healthy weight is bogus “BMI Is A Terrible Measure Of Health” “5 BMI Myths You Need To Stop Believing” These are the titles of several articles on BMI and BMI charts published in recent years. If you take their message at face value, then you’ll come to one conclusion: BMI is outdated, overrated, and inaccurate, and it’s time we retired it for good. In case you didn’t know, BMI stands for “body mass index,” and it measures the relationship between your height and weight. BMI has been used by doctors for decades to help determine whether someone should consider losing or gaining weight, but recently this idea has come under fire. Detractors say you can’t distill what it means to be healthy into a single number. Some go further and say being overweight isn’t unhealthy, so why bother measuring BMI or worrying about your weight? Others point out that BMI charts don’t work well for muscular people. Who’s right? The short story is twofold: 1) BMI charts are good

Well friends, it seems Quarantimes™ may finally be coming to an end. Gyms here in Virginia are starting to re-open and other parts of the country are either already open or not far off from beginning the process. Unless there’s a seismic shift in new cases of the virus, we’re on an upward trajectory towards some form of normalcy.  The real question now is how will the fitness industry adapt to our new reality? Coronavirus isn’t miraculously vanished, of course, and it’s going to leave a lasting impact. Some businesses that couldn’t stay afloat have closed their doors permanently, and even corporate giants like Starbucks just announced they’re closing 400 stores in the US as a result of decreased sales due to the pandemic. So how will gyms fare? And what effects will this have on the other areas of the fitness industry? If you’re a coach or personal trainer, is it time to pivot to a new career path?  To help make some Nostradamus-esque predictions, I invited Adam Schafer on the podcast. If you’re not

So, here we are, hopefully closing in on the end of These Perilous Quarantimes. Restaurants are opening, stonks are rising, and . . . at long last . . . gyms are unlocking their doors. And that means a few things to us fitness folk: 1) If you’ve been slogging through bodyweight workouts, and the idea of doing another set of pushups instead of bench press makes you want to huff paint and chew someone’s face off, your salvation is nigh. 2) If you were lucky enough to snag some dumbbells or other exercise equipment before this thing went down (or were #dedicated enough to sell one of your kidneys in return for said exercise equipment), then you’ll be well-prepared to jump back into your old routine. 3) And either way, you can look forward to a heaping bowl of good ‘ol fashioned muscle soreness, something you may not have experienced since your newbie gains days. I’m talking stabbed in the thighs with a rusty butter knife . . . pecs bludgeoned by Sauron’s mace . . . spinal erectors so tender you could sell them a

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 th

Over the past few weeks, you’ve been bombarded with contradictory, confusing, and complex facts and figures about COVID-19. At this point, the story most often repeated in the media goes like this: Aside from social distancing, washing your hands, and (maybe) wearing a face mask, there’s nothing you can do to avoid getting COVID-19. If you do get COVID-19, there’s nothing you can do to hasten your recovery or reduce the severity of your symptoms except wait for your body to get rid of the virus. If you’re one of the unlucky few who develops severe symptoms like respiratory failure, the best doctors can do for you is put you on a ventilator, give you some drugs to ease your discomfort, and hope for the best. While this story is more right than wrong based on the available evidence, it paints a grim, overly simplistic picture. Here’s how Dr. Zhen Yan, the director of the Center for Skeletal Muscle Research at the University of Virginia’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center, puts it: “All you hea

This was a fun episode for me, because my guest is a fitness “godfather” of sorts who has greatly influenced my own work and career, as well as probably the most-requested guest from listeners. I’m talking about the inimitable Alan Aragon, who has been at the forefront of the evidence-based fitness movement for over a decade now and has helped countless fitness enthusiasts, professional athletes, and top coaches. So, it’s a treat to finally get him on the show! If you’re not familiar with Alan, he’s a nutrition researcher and educator and creator of the first-of-its-kind research review in 2008, called AARR (Alan Aragon’s Research Review). He also has a true talent for translating science into practical application, making it work for normal people with real lives and not just subjects in a lab. In this episode, I pepper Alan with a smattering of questions that I often receive from my readers, ranging from artificial sweeteners’ effects on weight loss and the gut microbiome, to the benefits of cyclical dietin

Golly gee willikers, 2020, you’re proving a rather harsh mistress, and nobody seems to know your safe word.⁣ Tamagotchi?⁣ Nickelback?⁣ Antidisestablishmentarianism?⁣⁣ *sigh*⁣ Okay so I’m going to be indelicate here:⁣ This fucking sucks.⁣ The Current Situation is yet more evidence of the degradation and injustice of our times, where viciousness and villainy appear victorious at every turn and charity and civility are circling the drain.⁣ And I’m going to be honest—I don't know what the solution is. ⁣ It’s certainly not virtue signaling, though, so I’ll leave that to the hordes of hectoring hypocrites who gladly posture on social media about Important Issues™ but give precisely none of their time or money to the causes they publicly champion.⁣⁣ (Spoiler alert: they don’t actually care.)⁣ What I do know, however, is that Martin Luther King Jr. was correct when he said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”⁣ And so I reject any and all for

My podcasts with Pat Flynn often delve into philosophical tangents and fortunately, have become especially popular. The concepts we cover don’t just apply to fitness either. They can affect your whole mindset and offer life-changing benefits. So, why not embrace the asides and dive even deeper? In this episode, Pat and I talk about … - What relativism is and whether or not truth is objective - The purpose of freedom - The nature of morality - Modern politics and the trajectory of America’s 2-party system - Our obligations towards others and ourselves in regards to health - And more … If you enjoy philosophical discussions that can give you something to scratch your chin about, listen to this podcast! 7:11 - What is your background? 14:26 - What is the purpose and point of freedom? 19:50 - What is relativism and should we take it seriously? 34:10 - What is a syllogism? 41:42 - What is the other option? 57:33 - Why do we have freedom? 62:53 - What are the cardinal virtues? ====== 1:14:50 - What is morality and

Supplementation can be overwhelming. No matter what your goal is--build muscle, lose fat, improve health--there are hundreds of supplements to choose from. And good luck trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. If you're to believe the hype, many of these pills and powders have downright magical properties and are capable of performing downright miracles. Just one bottle of this, you're told, will give you instant muscle gain. That one? It melts fat off your body. Those over there? They double your brainpower. And on and on. I guess that's why so many people spend so much money on supplements. Well, if a part of you has suspected that the supplement industry is more smoke and mirrors than science and substance, you're right. It's an unregulated rough and tumble of a marketplace that's more or less a playground for rent-seeking bums and pirates. That said, it's not all bad. There are supplements that have good science behind them and that can help you optimize your health and physical and mental performance. T

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 children Why many women give up after having kids The most important lessons she’s learned over her 3

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

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 d

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

“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 Scho

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: Legio

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-s

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, on

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 th

If you’ve read anything about bodybuilding, you’ve probably heard about something called “the pump.” In a nutshell, this refers to the temporary increase in muscle size that occurs when you lift weights. Bodybuilders have been strangely obsessed with this phenomenon since people started lifting weights, and according to many, it’s the cheat code for unlocking rapid muscle growth. George Butler and Charles Gaines, authors of Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, claimed getting a muscle pump, “feels like one of those fast-frame films of flowers blooming or seeds ripening; the muscles seem actually to go from pod to blossom in seconds under the skin.” This explanation reveals one of the main reasons weightlifters like getting a pump: it’s a visible sign your efforts in the gym are paying off. Your muscles are getting bigger before your eyes! This preoccupation with the pump hasn’t waned, either. You’ll still find articles touting the benefits of “chasing the pump”—bodybuilder lingo for doing lots of