Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

Why don’t I manipulate rep tempo in my programs like other strength and hypertrophy programs? 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 liv...

In this podcast, I’m once again chatting with Alex Banayan, but this time, I fielded questions from my followers over on Instagram all about mindset, success, and achieving your dreams. In case you missed my first chat with Alex and you’re not familiar with him, his book The Third Door , which is all about his 7-year journey to interview some of the most successful people in the world, has made hi...

“Taking BCAAs in addition to eating plenty of protein is like watering your lawn . . . after a storm.” This episode is filled with similar, fun fitness analogies from my next book project. I’ll talk more about that later, but I wanted to share some of the material from that book. It’s just for fun, and I hope you’ll laugh a bit. Press play and let me know what you think! Timestamps: 0:00 -  Please...

What are the benefits of massage? Is the pec deck effective at all? Is CLA a dud supplement? Best foods for bulking? This podcast is a Q&A, but it’s a bit different from the kind you’ll typically find here on Muscle For Life. In my usual Q&A episodes, I take a question from email or Instagram and then fully answer it in an episode of the podcast every week. However, over on Instagram , I’v...

In this podcast, I chat with scientist and friend Dr. Bill Campbell all about flexible dieting. Specifically, we discuss a study out of his lab that compared a flexible, IIFYM diet with a more rigid, meal plan approach. In case you’re not familiar with Dr. Campbell, he’s a professor of Exercise Science and the Director of the Performance & Physique Enhancement Laboratory at the University of S...

What is the healthiest diet in the world? That’s something I’m often asked, and a question many researchers have tried to answer. Unfortunately, many of the most popular answers aren’t the best ones. They’re either not quite accurate or ridiculously wrong, which is mostly a function of marketing. A lot of fad diets get attention because they are marketed well. Too many fad diets focus on restricti...

Some people—my favorite people—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 do at least a little better inside and outside the gym. That’s why I do “best of” episodes that contain a few of the most practical an...

In this podcast, I interview Laurie, who did three months of Legion’s VIP one-on-one coaching program to get strong while improving her body composition. In fact, Laurie went from lifting just the bar on her squat and deadlift (and less than the bar on the bench press) to lifting more than double that on each lift with ease. And she did that all while losing 6 pounds and dropping nearly two pant s...

The distinction between believed and checked facts is vital to good thinking. How many things do you know because of firsthand verification rather than secondhand instruction? The truth is many or even most of our assumptions about, well, just about everything are believed facts, not checked ones. While we only have time to check so many facts, serious problems arise when we can’t distinguish betw...

Have only 30 minutes to train? How much caffeine do I consume per day? How did I meet my wife? Are hydration drinks overrated? What are the best marketing books? This podcast is a Q&A, but it’s a bit different from the kind you’ll typically find here on Muscle For Life. In my usual Q&A episodes, I take a question from email or Instagram and then fully answer it in an episode of the podcast...

If you enjoy my previous philosophical musings with my good buddy Pat Flynn, you’re going to enjoy this podcast. That’s because in it, Pat Flynn and I discuss the concept of scientism, “the Science” with a capital “S,” as well as epistemological questions like “how do we know what we know?” Pat is a repeat guest not only because I enjoy our conversations, but I’ve gotten great feedback from listen...

While there’s still no foolproof cure for Covid, the good news is research shows that if you’re a healthy person under the age of sixty, your chances of being hospitalized or killed by the disease are extremely low. Many people can rightly dismiss Covid as “just another respiratory virus.” However, what if they have an underlying health condition like diabetes, heart disease, or chronic bronchitis...

Is “maingaining” or “gaintaining” better than lean bulking? 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 b...

When you really break it down, fitness is pretty simple. Want to gain muscle and get stronger? Lift heavy weights and make those weights heavier over time to keep making progress. Want to lose weight? Eat fewer calories than you burn by eating less, moving more, or both. However, dumbing it down to such simple tenets isn’t always helpful. For someone who’s very overweight, for example, blunt “eat...

Is exercise addiction real? Is it something to worry about? In general, the opposite is the problem here in America. Seventy-seven percent of Americans fail to reach the minimum recommended physical activity guidelines, while only about 0.5% of people can be classified as what we might call exercise addicts. However, the numbers change when you look at certain demographics. For example, when you l...

This podcast is a Q&A, but it’s a bit different from the kind you’ll typically find here on Muscle For Life. In my usual Q&A episodes, I take a question from email or Instagram and then fully answer it in an episode of the podcast every week. However, over on Instagram , I’ve started doing weekly Q&As in the stories, and it occurred to me that many podcast listeners might enjoy hearing...

This podcast is all about creatine. Specifically, I'm talking with Dr. Darren Candow about common questions regarding creatine, myths, and even some of the latest research on how creatine might even benefit people who aren’t looking to gain gobs of muscle or athletes looking to recover faster. While creatine isn’t a new subject for the podcast or my content in general, Dr. Darren Candow is a fanta...

This episode is part of a 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: 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...

Some people—my favorite people—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 do at least a little better inside and outside the gym. That’s why I do “best of” episodes that contain a few of the most practical an...

In this podcast, I interview my good friend Neil Patel about his approach to goal setting. You may not know Neil, especially because he doesn’t appear on many podcasts, but he’s a true expert in the field of entrepreneurship and business. He’s a real marketing “guru” and the most successful of my close friends in business (and other aspects of life). Beyond his ad agency and SEO expertise, Neil is...

Reading great health and fitness books is one of the most effective ways to learn how to build your best body ever and a body you can proud of. There are many fitness books out there, but we only have so much time and energy to give to reading. We want to make sure we pick the ones that will have the highest return on our investment. So which books should you read? In this podcast, I’m going to sh...

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...

In this podcast, I have a conversation with my friend David Nurse all about realizing your potential, achieving more than you thought was possible, and creating breakthroughs. This is something David knows about because he recently released a book called “Breakthrough,” which provides an actionable blueprint to increase your innovation and creativity on demand. David took what he learned about the...

This episode is part of a 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: 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...

This podcast is a Q&A, but it’s a bit different from the kind you’ll typically find here on Muscle For Life. In my usual Q&A episodes, I take a question from email or Instagram and then fully answer it in an episode of the podcast every week. However, over on Instagram , I’ve started doing weekly Q&As in the stories, and it occurred to me that many podcast listeners might enjoy hearing...