Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

If you’re familiar with my books, blog, and even my line of supplements, Legion, you know I’m all about the science, baby! Anecdote and experience are useful, of course, but it can be easy to get fooled. There are too many variables at play, and psychological trickery can wreak havoc without us even realizing it. That’s where science comes into play. It can give us a more objective look to help us...

This episode is part of a monthly 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: One Monday every month, 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’...

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...

Have you ever done an exercise and just not “felt” it? Sure, you performed the lift, but your target muscles don’t feel like they worked very hard. Or maybe you felt it in the “wrong” areas? Like your forearms feeling zapped after barbell curls while your biceps still feel fresh. Or maybe you felt it, but in a bad way. For example, bench pressing started bothering your elbows and you never really...

You’ve probably heard that eating protein is important for losing weight. You’ve also probably heard that protein powder is particularly effective for weight loss. If you snoop around online for weight loss tips, one of the first pieces of advice you’ll find is that you should start sipping protein shakes to slim down. And that raises the question—what’s the best protein powder for weight loss? We...

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 fast...

I firmly believe in the power of taking ownership over your life. You know, the whole “when life gives you lemons, sell artisanal, organic, first-press lemonade for $15 a glass to rich assholes” mentality. In all seriousness, though, I mean taking the cards life has dealt you, and making the best of them. It’s easy to blame others and get into a victim mindset, but this line of thinking never impr...

“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, t...

“When’s your next book coming out?” “What kind of supplements are you going to release next?” “What would you name your boat if you had one?” I’m asked questions like these all the time and so I thought I’d start doing monthly updates about what’s new and exciting here at Legion HQ. So here’s a quick hosedown of what me and my jolly band of pirates and bums have been up to lately. Enjoy! Want free...

If you’ve spent much time in the gym (especially CrossFit gyms), you may have seen someone pushing a huge, weighted sled across the turf. By the end of it, they’re gasping for air and all they’ve done is move a bunch of weight from one side of the room to the other. What are they up to? Are they training to be one of Santa’s reindeer? Or is this an almost-too-obvious exercise for unlocking massive...

Muscle recovery nostrums are an evergreen fad in the fitness industry. Fancy foam rollers, special kinds of stretching, overpriced medical tape, CBD oil, and gimcrack supplements are all à la mode. If you stay up to date on these sorts of things, you’ve probably seen one of the latest recovery trinkets: massage guns. Although massage guns have existed for about a decade, they’ve become popular rec...

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 ques...

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 fast...

If you’re here, you probably care at least a little bit about picking up and putting down heavy things. I’m talking about training, of course. The truth is training isn’t hopelessly complex. Find a decent routine, follow it, and you’ll make gains. Unfortunately, you’ve probably found that life isn’t perfectly predictable and sometimes gets in the way of your training. You can’t always hit the gym...

Modern medicine has a cure for nearly everything. After all, it’s eradicated smallpox, eliminated malaria in most developed countries, and nearly put an end to polio. It’s also created all kinds of pills, potions, and powders to treat ailments ranging from the common cold to cancer. And yet, it still hasn’t come up with a cure for low-back pain. In fact, low-back pain is the leading cause of disab...

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 ques...

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...

Here’s a ground truth about getting in shape: The same principles that drive muscle growth in men also work just as well for women. In fact, if you look at the differences between most men’s and women’s workout programs, you’ll find they’re mainly due to men’s women’s preferences, not physiological differences between the sexes. (There are a few small exceptions, which you’ll learn about in this p...

A war has been waging throughout the philosophical and psychological community for centuries. Not a war with muskets, armored artillery, or laser guns, but more like professors throwing textbooks at one another and jabbing intellectual foes with concise essays and pointed papers of poignant arguments. I’m talking about the nature versus nurture problem, which is the debate about whether human beha...

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 ques...

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 fast...

Every holiday season, you see the same kinds of articles make the rounds: “How to avoid holiday weight gain” “How to keep off the pounds this Thanksgiving” “20 tips to avoid weight gain during the holidays” Each article follows the same stock format, sharing stats about how many pounds of weight you gain between Thanksgiving and New Years, and then giving you a long list of hackneyed weight loss t...

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...

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...

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 indee...