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If you want to know how to build muscle, lose fat, and be healthier, happier, and wiser…faster than you ever thought possible…then this podcast is for you. Hosted by the bestselling author and entrepreneur, Mike Matthews, each episode gives you simple, science-based know-how and inspiration that will help you build your best body and life ever.
Find out more at www.legionathletics.com
Copyright: © Mike Matthews
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.
Take something simple like vitamin D, for example.
It was long thought to be important for just bone health but we now know that it plays a crucial role in a whole host of vital physiological processes, and unless you spend a lot of time in the sun, supplementation is the only way to give your body what it needs.
Fish oil is another good example because it provides your body with two nutrients that are otherwise hard to get enough of through diet alone:
- Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
What are these molecules and why are they so important, you ask? What do they do in the body and what kind of benefits do they confer?
And what about fish oil supplements? Which ones are good and which aren't and why?
Listen to this episode to find out!
4:40 - What is a fish oil supplement?
8:53 - What are the benefits of getting enough EPA and DHA in your diet?
16:28 - How does an omega 3 fatty acid affect muscle gain?
18:21 - How much fish oil should I take?
20:02 - What are the different types of fish oil?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Books by Mike Matthews:https://legionathletics.com/products/books/
Triton (Fish Oil): https://legionathletics.com/products/supplements/triton/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
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 …
So, tune in if you want to learn how to get fit while raising children and how to stay lean and strong as you get older.
7:22 - How did you get into fitness?
15:53 - How did you manage to work out when you had kids?
27:25 - How long did it take for you to feel fit after having a baby?
29:23 - How have things changed now that you’re older? What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned?
34:18 - What type of foods do you get your protein from?
43:43- Do you feel like the fitness journey has been hard?
50:54 - How did you come across me and my work? How did that impact things?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Maria's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongmariastrong/
Save 15% on fat burners: https://legionathletics.com/products/fat-burners/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
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 sharing my perspective.
Think of it like a spicier version of a Q&A.
So, here’s what I’m doing:
Every couple of weeks, I’m asking my Instagram followers what they disagree with me on, and then picking a few of the more common or interesting contentions to address here on the podcast.
And in this episode, I’ll be tackling the following . . .
5:38- Are full body splits better than upper lower?
29:21 - Is long distance running bad for building a lean physique?
36:53 - Do fat burners actually work?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Save 15% on fat burners: https://legionathletics.com/shop/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
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 damage or rid the body of toxins.
That is, yes, your body has a certain amount of harmful chemicals deposited in its fat stores, but no, drinking a bunch of lemonade for a week isn’t going to do anything about it.
If you want to feel and look great for the rest of your life, you need to commit to several things:
- Exercising your body several hours per week (resistance training is particularly important).
- Eating a lot of high-quality food with special emphasis on plenty of fruits and vegetables.
- Not smoking.
- Consuming alcohol in moderation.
- Avoiding dependencies on drugs and medicines.
- Maintaining good sleep hygiene.
So, if you want to know why you should stop trying to detox your body, listen to this episode!
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Timestamps
6:15 - Do toxins cause weight gain? What causes weight gain?
22:52 - What are toxins and how does the body process them?
28:23- Do detox diets help with rapid weight loss?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Shop Legion Supplements Here: legionathletics.com/shop/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
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 at its highest in the morning?
9:14 - Does intermittent fasting help you lose body fat?
18:29 - Does eating at night reduce your quality of sleep?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
“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 School of Business.
But by being so intertwined with the inner workings of habit-formation, Nir also knows how to break habits and make these apps and services serve us rather than the other way around.
That’s why Nir wrote his latest book, Indistractable, which is what this podcast is all about. In this interview, Nir helps us understand ...
- The root causes of distraction and how productive tasks can still be distractions
- Why you shouldn't try to be satisfied or happy all of the time
- How to "surf the urge" and supercharge your willpower
- Why you should timebox your day
- How to discover your values and find what resonates with you
- And more ...
So if you want to take back your life and not feel so addicted to apps and services, listen to this podcast.
8:13 - You went from writing a book about getting people hooked on products, to a book that is intended to help people avoid that. How did that happen?
16:38 - What is the difference between external and internal triggers?
22:20 - How do we get better at embracing discomfort?
49:33 - How does time boxing work and how do you use it?
53:04 - What are your thoughts on finding your personal values?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Indistractable by Nir Eyal: NirAndFar.com/Indistractable
Schedule Maker Tool: nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/
Summary Article: www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/
Distraction Guide here: www.nirandfar.com/distractions/
Habits vs routines article here: www.nirandfar.com/habits/
Nir's Instagram: www.instagram.com/neyal99/
Books by 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.
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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?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
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-size-fits-all answer like “12 weeks,” I’m going to show you how to decide exactly how long you should stay in a calorie deficit to reach your goal weight.
Let’s start by looking at how fast you can lose fat without losing muscle.
3:41- How long do I need to be in a calorie deficit?
7:07 - How do you calculate how much fat you can lose before you lose muscle?
16:48 - How long should i stay in a calorie deficit and when should I take a diet break?
23:29 - How do you do a diet break?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
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, one of Apple’s most downloaded podcasts.
Let’s dive in!
11:33 - How can you overcome the scary feeling of making a big change in your life?
14:43 - How do you analyze a situation and see how that decision will affect your life?
21:21 - Do you think it’s common for a person to stay with someone so they can blame their failures on them?
23:14 - Does this also apply to romantic relationships?
28:41 - How do you develop a sense of self worth?
54:06 - How do you deal with people who bring you down?
01:00:22 - How do you cultivate a healthy network?
01:06:13 - How do you network under 6 minutes?
01:09:01 - What can you bring into this person’s life that can benefit both people?
01:23:42 - Where can people find you and your work?
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Jordan Harbinger's Website: www.jordanharbinger.com/
Jordan Harbinger's Podcast: www.jordanharbinger.com/subscribe-to-the-podcast/
Jordan Harbinger's Instagram: www.instagram.com/jordanharbinger/
Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/
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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.legionathletics.com/signup/
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