Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

You’ve probably heard a lot of strange ideas about how to get stronger and build muscle. You know, things like drinking a gallon of milk a day, doing ten sets of ten reps of every exercise, sipping flavored water BCAAs between meals, and so forth. And if you’ve put any of these ideas into practice, you’ve also learned they’re more or less all humbug. If you’re following a well-designed strength tr...

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...

I write a lot. Between my books and blog, I’ve written (er, typed) tens of millions of words on various topics ranging from building big guns (biceps) to literal gun rights , from calories and macros to history and religion, from habits and motivation to actually getting smarter , and many excursions everything in between. So it’s not surprising that many people who are interested in writing ask m...

If you want to lose weight, one of the most helpful things you can do is start tracking your calorie intake. This improves your awareness of how much you’re eating, where you can cut back, and how to budget your calories so as to eat your favorite foods while still losing weight. Many people take this a step further and start tracking their calorie expenditure (“burn”) using an activity tracker li...

“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...

What’s the deal with athletic footwear? On the one hand, you have fancy, expensive running and sports shoes coming out every couple of months claiming some new technological “breakthrough” for more comfort, safety, and even performance. And then you have the crowd that dismisses those products as pure marketing puffery and that swears by minimalist shoes for all athletics or even none at all. What...

Mosy around any gym, and you’ll see some dudes lifting heavyweights they can't even lift. And a few questions come to mind. Is he really getting anything out of those reps? Is he just doing that to stroke his ego? Should I train like that? Some say yes, that partial reps, or repetitions where you only complete part of the movement, lead to superior gains in strength and size. Others say that unles...

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...

Politics and religion—the two taboo topics you’re never supposed to bring up on a first date. Podcasting is similar. Unless your show is explicitly on either of these subjects, as soon as you even comment on them, the “stay in your lane” comments and emails start flying. Well, I’ve never been one for orthodoxy, so here we are, with yet another deviation from the usual fitness content—a discussion...

As a woman, you face some challenges that guys don’t. One of the most obvious is the menstrual cycle. Not only can this affect your mood and daily routine, but it can also throw your diet and training plans for a loop. If you’ve read anything about the science behind good ol’ Aunt Flo, then you probably know that it can affect your metabolism , how easily your body stores fat, and your appetite. Y...

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...

“Hey Mike, any advice on becoming an online coach?” “How can I start my own fitness business?” As an entrepreneur and creator of several successful businesses in the fitness space, I’m often asked how people can break into the industry themselves. I can understand the enthusiasm. Lots of people who go through a life-changing fitness journey end up wanting to help others make similar changes in the...

“It seems so easy for her to eat healthy all the time, I wish I could stick to that kind of diet.” “I wish I had the work ethic to show up to the gym every day like that guy.” “Why is it so easy for other people to stay lean even through the holidays?” Chances are good you’ve had one of these thoughts or know someone who has. And once you understand the relatively simple levers you need to pull to...

Deciding which muscle groups to train together can be confusing. Most people say chest and triceps should be trained together, since they’re both involved in bench and overhead pressing. Others say you should train biceps with chest because your arms will still be fresh after benching, so you might as well train them together. Arnold was known for training his chest and back together, and if that...

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...

Now that Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger 2.0 is successfully launched , it’s time to get back to your normal podcast programming . . . Well, not quite. This episode is not about health and fitness. It’s another conversation with Sal Di Stefano (of Mind Pump Media fame) and this time we’re discussing the topic of voting. We cover all sorts of tangential subjects to voting like taxes and free markets,...

This episode is one of the chapters of the new second edition of my bestselling book for experienced weightlifters, Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger , which is live now at www.bblsbook.com. In this book, you’ll learn science-based and time-proven formulas for eating and training that’ll help you shatter muscle and strength plateaus, set new personal records, and build your best body ever. And better...

This episode is one of the chapters of the new second edition of my bestselling book for experienced weightlifters, Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger , which is live now at www.bblsbook.com. In this book, you’ll learn science-based and time-proven formulas for eating and training that’ll help you shatter muscle and strength plateaus, set new personal records, and build your best body ever. And better...

In this book, you’ll learn science-based and time-proven formulas for eating and training that’ll help you shatter muscle and strength plateaus, set new personal records, and build your best body ever. And better yet, you’ll do it without following restrictive or exotic diets, putting in long hours at the gym, or doing crushing workouts that leave you aching from tip to tail. Also, to celebrate th...

This episode is one of the chapters of the new second edition of my bestselling book for experienced weightlifters, Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger , which is live now at www.bblsbook.com. In this book, you’ll learn science-based and time-proven formulas for eating and training that’ll help you shatter muscle and strength plateaus, set new personal records, and build your best body ever. And better...

This episode is one of the chapters of the new second edition of my bestselling book for experienced weightlifters, Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger , which is live now at www.bblsbook.com. In this book, you’ll learn science-based and time-proven formulas for eating and training that’ll help you shatter muscle and strength plateaus, set new personal records, and build your best body ever. And better...

In this book, you’ll learn science-based and time-proven formulas for eating and training that’ll help you shatter muscle and strength plateaus, set new personal records, and build your best body ever. And better yet, you’ll do it without following restrictive or exotic diets, putting in long hours at the gym, or doing crushing workouts that leave you aching from tip to tail. Also, to celebrate th...

This episode is one of the chapters of the new second edition of my bestselling book for experienced weightlifters, Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger , which is live now at www.bblsbook.com. In this book, you’ll learn science-based and time-proven formulas for eating and training that’ll help you shatter muscle and strength plateaus, set new personal records, and build your best body ever. And better...