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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
If you’re an experienced weightlifter, chances are good you experience the occasional aches, pains, and tightness that sometimes get in the way of your training.
Maybe a shoulder is tight, which limits your benching, or your hips are stiff, which restricts your deadlifting, or your ankles aren’t flexible enough, which prevents you from achieving proper depth in your squatting.
What can you do to overcome and prevent such issues?
That’s what Justin Andrews of Mind Pump Media came on the show to talk about.
Before he was a podcast star, Justin spent many years as a trainer and helped thousands of people identify and resolve various movement issues and thereby improve their training performance and results.
In this podcast, Justin goes over common exercise movement mistakes, how one injury or mobility issue can lead to another in non-obvious ways, how to screen for movement limitations, simple stretches for improving mobility, and more.
6:32 - What do you mean by movement aesthetics and why is it good?
10:46 - What are the common mistakes that you’ve seen in the gym?
31:08 - How do the tests look and how can people assess themselves?
35:11 - What are some of your favorite corrective exercises for shoulders?
47:23 - What’s new and exciting for Mindpump?
Mentioned on The Show:
Mindpump's Website: https://www.mindpumpmedia.com/
Mindpump's Live Events: https://www.mindpumplive.com/
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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 four questions:
1. Why do I recommend women start lifting in the 8-to-10-rep range in Thinner Leaner Stronger but men start lifting in the 4-to-6-rep range in Bigger Leaner Stronger?
2. Should you just track macros when cutting or calories too? And what if your calories and macros don’t match?
3. How should you modify Bigger Leaner Stronger if you’re no longer a beginner?
4. How should you get back into working out after taking a long time off?
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.
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In this episode I interview Corri, who recently completed my 90-day coaching service and dropped 12.5 pounds and 8% body fat, while getting stronger on all of her key lifts, and at 40 years old!
AND after having a baby that she was nursing!
Basically, Corri’s a perfect example of how there’s always a way to get into great shape if you want it enough, and that’s why I wanted to have her on the podcast.
Now, as with everything, nothing ever goes exactly as planned, and learning to adjust and adapt to conditions is an important part of the fitness game, which is something Corri experienced firsthand.
She ran into a number of obstacles along the path to success, including beating hunger, finding time to prepare meals, and working her way through challenging workouts often on too little sleep thanks to the baby, and Corri had a number of insights to share on how she overcame them.
So, if you like hearing motivational stories about how people have changed their bodies and lives, and if you want to pick up a few tips that may help you in your personal journey, this episode is for you.
5:26 - What have you accomplished with our coaching program?
13:45 - What was wrong with your thyroid?
19:41 - How did having a baby affect your training and diet?
26:21 - How did you deal with hunger while you were nursing?
37:29 - What was your workout plan on our coaching program and what were some obstacles you had to overcome?
41:35 - Have you injured your knees before?
42:32 - How was your sleep
49:56 - Anything interesting that you’re working on?
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Biceps and abs are cool and all, but you know what really turns heads in the gym?
Being strong. Really strong.
You know, bench pressing a few plates, and squatting and deadlifting a few more.
Getting really strong also inevitably builds you a great physique.
In fact, as a natural weightlifter, your number one goal should be increasing whole-body strength, not getting big pumps or "feeling the burn."
That's the big "secret" to gaining muscle quickly and effectively, because it's the best way to "progressively overload" your muscles.
You see, by working to slowly and steadily add weight to your exercises over time, you progressively increase tension levels in your muscles. Mechanically speaking, this is the primary driver of muscle growth.
That's why the biggest guys and gals in the gym are also generally the strongest.
Another advantage to this approach to weightlifting is it's very simple and straightforward. There are just three steps:
1. Choose the right strength program for you.
2. Get your calories and macros right.
3. Make sure you're fully recovering from your workouts.
That's it.
If you just consistently do those three things, and keep showing up and putting in the work, then your strength will skyrocket and your body will transform.
Let's take a look at each.
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While there are many ways to thrive in many sectors of today’s modern economy, there’s no arguing that it’s getting harder and harder to identify and capitalize on these opportunities.
Robots and AI are eliminating jobs, globalization and the democratization of high-quality education is expanding the talent pool, and customers are becoming more selective, sophisticated, and stipulating.
To overcome these obstacles, we’re often told to specialize—to focus all of our energies, efforts, and resources on becoming really good at one thing to the exclusion of all else.
This isn’t entirely wrongheaded, but for most people, it isn’t likely to lead to long-term success and fulfillment but disappointment, burnout, and failure, instead.
This extends beyond merely moneymaking too, and applies to just about every endeavor you could want to undertake. The reign of the hyperspecialist is coming to an end and the rise of the skilled generalist is at hand.
What does that mean, exactly?
Well, as the author of the book How to Be Better at (Almost) Everything, Pat Flynn, shares in this episode, generalism refers to acquiring a variety of know-hows and abilities, and he argues this is a smarter and more practical approach to winning in today’s world.
Generalism, Pat explains, is one of the keys to making more money, getting in better shape, and becoming more successful, effective, and happy in every aspect of your life, and his personal approach to generalism starts with developing skills that’ll serve you well no matter where the red thread of fate takes you—meta-skills as Pat refers to them.
6:12 - What do you mean by generalism?
11:52 - How does generalism make us more money than specifism?
29:58 - What are some examples of metaskills and force multiplier skills?
32:33 - What are some of the myths and mistakes of logic and reason?
39:51 - What are more examples of metaskills and force multiplier skills?
46:36 - What are your tips to improve focus?
50:51 - What is the name of your book and where can people find you and your work?
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Protein powders and drinks are more popular than ever for good reason:
They’re convenient, tasty, affordable, and in most cases, well-digested, well-absorbed, and rich in essential amino acids vital to gaining and preserving muscle and strength.
They also make eating a high-protein diet a cinch. A few meals per day with a protein shake or two thrown into the mix gets the job done, regardless of how much protein you need to eat.
Now, while we know that protein powder isn’t harmful per se, is eating too much harmful? And if so, how much can you eat every day before it becomes a problem?
Well, according to some people, if you drink too many protein shakes, you’re asking for all sorts of trouble, ranging from an upset stomach to severe digestive disorders, nutritional deficiencies, and even kidney damage.
Others say such claims are nonsense because protein powder is just dried food, and therefore doesn’t fundamentally affect the body any differently than other forms of protein like chicken, eggs, or milk.
Who’s right?
Well, the short story is this:
There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with drinking a couple protein shakes per day. Getting a large portion of your daily calories from protein, however, is probably a bad idea.
And in this podcast, you’ll learn why.
By the end, you’re going to understand why people think eating too much protein powder is bad for you, what science has to say about it, and the upper limit of how much protein powder you should eat every day.
Let’s get started.
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It’s one thing to talk about finding opportunities where others only see obstacles . . .
. . . seeing the silver lining in difficult situations . . .
. . . turning coal into diamonds . . .
. . . but it’s something else entirely to actually behave this way when the chips are down and to then actually win against all odds.
Bedros is someone who has done just that.
Most people know him as the founder of the multimillion-dollar Fit Body Bootcamp franchise, which is an impressive achievement by itself, but his backstory makes his entrepreneurial wins even more remarkable.
Bedros grew up in a country gripped by Soviet communism, came to America as a child and grew up in abject poverty, and eventually pulled himself up by his bootstraps and became a screaming success in business.
And as you can imagine, Bedros learned quite a few lessons along the way about responsibility, leadership, and perseverance, which is what we talk about in this interview, as well as other aspects of entrepreneurship, including marketing, branding, sales, and business strategy.
So, if you want to get some powerful and practical insights into how to deal with life’s many challenges head on and not only survive but thrive, you want to listen to this interview.
5:36 - How did you get to where you’re at today?
28:43 - What were the struggles you had to face to get to where you’re at today?
35:16 - What is your best advice for upcoming entrepreneurs?
41:46 - What resources and books do you recommend for leadership?
43:11 - What do you think is the next big thing in the fitness industry? What do you have planned for your future?
54:29 - Where can people find you and your work?
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Hafthor Bjornsson is the strongest man in the world, and in this podcast, he gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be him, a 6’9, 420-pound man who can squat, deadlift, and bench press over 2,500 pounds.
He’s also the 2018 champion of the World’s Strongest Man competition (and hopefully the 2019 champion by the time this episode goes live), which involves incredible feats like . . .
- Lifting five large stones ranging from 220 to 350 pounds onto columns the height of a man.
- Pulling gargantuan objects arm-over-arm using a rope, such as planes, boats, cars, and giant tires.
- Carrying a 900-pound yoke made of two refrigerators across a 30-meter course in under 60 seconds.
You probably already know this, but Hafthor also played Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane in Game of Thrones (RIP), and in this interview, we talk about how he’s currently training to defend his World’s Strongest Man title, how he manages his recovery, what his diet looks like, what supplements he takes (Hint: Legion), his favorite Game of Thrones experiences, how he’s dealt with injuries, what his long-term aspirations are, and more!
As a genuine Hafthor fan, I had a hell of a good time talking to him, and I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did.
5:33 - How do you train in preparation for events?
7:53 - Do you try to achieve your PR at the gym or at events?
13:21 - What weakness have you been trying to address in your training?
14:49 - What do you do for hot and cold therapy?
19:50 - What are some of the big lessons you’ve learned?
21:52 - What is your diet?
24:53 - What’s your sleep hygiene like?
29:10 - Do you have a routine at night to help you relax?
36:30 - What is your supplement routine?
42:36 - What drives you?
51:23 - What was your favorite experience with playing The Mountain in Game of Thrones?
55:16 - How do you prepare your diet and training when traveling?
58:41 - Have you had any serious injuries?
1:03:28 - What are your long term goals?
1:07:31 - What’s new and exciting for you?
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If you’ve ever lost a substantial amount of weight, you’ve likely experienced one or more of the following issues:
- Hunger
- Fatigue
- Lethargy
- Loss of sex drive
- Slowed weight loss
And if you ask the Internet why, chances are good you’ll come across something about metabolic damage, slowdown, or adaptation.
According to many people, all these terms refer to a condition where various physiological systems have been disrupted due to dieting and, as a result, your metabolism begins to decline, making it harder and harder to continue losing weight.
And if you keep on pushing it, your metabolism can crater.
How accurate is this?
To find out, I invited Eric Trexler, who’s a bodybuilder, researcher, and the Director of Education for Stronger by Science, to hop on the show and break it all down.
In this episode, Eric answers questions like . . .
- What is metabolic “damage” versus adaptation?
- How and why does weight loss become more difficult the leaner you get?
- How fast (or slow) should you lose weight to avoid metabolic adaptation?
- How should you change your training while cutting to minimize metabolic adaptation?
- What’s the best way to transition from cutting to lean bulking to minimize fat gain and maximize muscle gain?
- And more
6:19 - What is the background of your paper? What is metabolic adaptation?
7:08 - What do you mean by weight loss becoming difficult?
12:02 - What are some metabolic adaptations?
33:51 - What are some strategies to minimize metabolic adaptations while cutting?
40:33 - What rate of weight loss should we be aiming for and what are the best practices?
49:36 - Do you have any rules on volume?
53:54 - Why is maintaining intensity important?
1:04:13 - Do you prioritize carbs when you increase calories?
1:11:54 - What’s the best way to transition from cutting to lean bulking?
1:30:11 - Where can people find you and your work?
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I realize this is a curious recommendation based on what I normally suggest, but I’m including it in the series because I think it’s an important and timely read.
To understand why, consider the following from a speech the author gave in 1961:
“There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution.”
And then look at the world around you. Here in the West, people . . .
-Watch an average of 38 hours of video content per week.
-Spend an average of 1.5 hours on social media per day.
-Play an average of 6.4 hours of video games per week.
-Spend on average over 90% of their income.
-Are abandoning marriage and religion.
-Collectively watch billions of hours of porn per year.
-Collectively eat over 84 million fast food meals per day.
-Collectively spend over $230 billion on alcoholic beverages per year.
-Collectively spend over $10 billion on marijuana per year.
-Collectively smoke over 250 billion cigarettes per year.
. . . while also spending just 17 minutes reading per day (and mostly fiction and novels), just under 2.5 hours productively working per day, and less than 30 minutes exercising per day.
BUT HEY the optimists say . . . at least infant mortality and carbon monoxide emissions are down, renewable energy consumption is up (a little), the internet is getting faster, and more people are recycling!
That’s neat. And completely unsatisfying, like a picture of oxygen to someone drowning.
Anyhow, my point is Huxley was remarkably prescient in his predictions (or maybe it wasn’t so remarkable given the circles his brother Julian ran in), and in Brave New World, he paints the whole picture for you.
And it’s unnervingly familiar.
So much so that by my lights, the recipe for the world unfolding before us is something like three parts Brave New World, two parts Atlas Shrugged, and one part 1984, with a dash of, oh, I don’t know, Alice in Wonderland?
In other words, technocratic totalitarianism and transparent topsy-turvydom disguised as enlightenment, enrichment, and empowerment.
Don’t believe me? Read the books and see for yourself. Why bother if we’re doomed anyway? Says who? Humanity has seen much darker days than these and rebounded. We can do it again.
First, however, we need enough people to see the world as it is and not as they wish it were, and that’s why I’m recommending Brave New World.
It represents the logical conclusion of this late stage of our current civilization: the complete and scientific subjugation of the human spirit.
Let’s get to the takeaways.
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