Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

As fun as it can be to geek out on obscure and advanced muscle-building strategies, most people looking for advice on how to gain more muscle and strength just need to double down on the fundamentals instead. You know, compound exercises, heavy weights, progressive overload, and the like. There comes a point, though, where a basic understanding of the basics is no longer enough to keep the needle...

“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 to g...

“CrossFit won’t just transform your body,” an acquaintance once told me, “it will change everything—who you are, how you view the world, what you think is possible.” I’m a big believer in the life-changing power of being fit, but . . . really? I felt like I was being pitched on an MLM, not a workout program. This type of talk is common in the CrossFit universe, which has enjoyed tremendous success...

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’...

If you’ve been slinging iron for any amount of time, you’ve probably seen quite a few “ONE MORE REP” lifters. They’re usually a 20-something year-old dudes in stringers and Waffen-SS haircuts with oompa loompa tans and maybe, just maybe, a bit of lip gloss too (yep, I’ve seen it). These boys just love training to failure, often ending set after set with the weights on the floor or their bodies. We...

Poke around the Internet for advice on gaining muscle as fast as possible, and you’ll find a lot of advice along the lines of “eat big to get big.” You know, eat everything in sight, drink a gallon of milk per day, and so forth. This will definitely help you gain muscle, but it also results in a lot of unnecessary fat gain. And while a YOLO bulk or two can be productive and fun when you’re a begin...

Pop quiz: which days of the week are most fattening? Yes, you heard the question correctly. Which days of the week are most associated with weight gain? Don’t overthink it. Listen to your gut here (it should know!). If you go with your intuition, your answer is probably “the weekends.” And you’d be right.  Research shows that most people maintain a steady weight throughout the week and gain weight...

In this episode, I interview Meaghan, who used my Thinner Leaner Stronger program to completely transform her body and life. Before finding my work, Meaghan was 160 pounds, 28% body fat, and didn’t know what to do in the kitchen or gym. Then she found my book for women, Thinner Leaner Stronger, and now she’s about 40 pounds lighter and whole helluva lot stronger. Meaghan also has a much better rel...

This was supposed to be a podcast about kettlebells. Instead, it turned into a digression into politics, psychology, religion, and more, which let’s be honest, is more interesting than kettlebells. Pat is an interesting dude to talk to about this stuff, too, because while he’s certainly a fitness expert, he also has a master’s degree in systematic philosophy and has written several bestselling boo...

What if shocking your muscles with electricity helped them grow and develop faster?   What if it could reduce exercise-induced muscle damage and help you recover better from your workouts?   What if it could straight up make you stronger?   Well, this is why people buy and use electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) machines.   They believe they’re an easy and safe way to gain muscle and strength fast...

What if you could eat hamburgers, pizza, and ice cream every week—hell, maybe even every day—and still have abs?    Such is the rallying cry of many people who subscribe to the “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM) style of dieting.   Others claim the principles of IIFYM shouldn’t be used to merely get and stay lean while eating like a spoiled child. Instead, they should be used to look and feel great...

“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...

One of the problems with rigidly following a restrictive or narrowly focused dietary protocol like low-carb or low-fat is when you go off-plan for whatever reason, you can get slapped. For instance, if you’re a high-carber and miss a meal, you might find your energy levels plummeting, or if you’re a low-carber and indulge in some cake at a party, you might find yourself craving—and eating—every ca...

Last month, I flew out to Wichita Falls, Texas, to hang out with Mr. Starting Strength, Mark Rippetoe, and go on his podcast, Starting Strength Radio. I’ve been a fan of Mark’s work for a long time, I’ve had him on my podcast a number of times, and over the years, we’ve become buddies. Mark even wrote the foreword to the latest editions of my books Bigger Leaner Stronger and Thinner Leaner Stronge...

“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 to g...

What’s the easiest way to make your life better in every way? Exercise regularly. You’ll have more energy and mental focus, you’ll sleep better and get sick less frequently, and, of course, let’s not forget the fat loss and muscle and strength gains, either. Most people know they should be more active, but don’t know exactly what to do and how to go about it and often choose to do nothing instead....

Blood flow restriction training is making waves of late. It sounds new. It sounds scientific. And some are saying it’s revolutionary. Well, it also smacks of artifice. Like it was contrived by marketers to sell the latest round of magazines, pills, and powders. And so if you’ve been skeptical, good. You should be. You see, the more time you spend educating yourself in the ways of muscle building,...

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 quest...

In this interview, I talk with Jake, who used my Bigger Leaner Stronger program to transform his physique and, in many ways, his life. When he first found Bigger Leaner Stronger, he was about 16% body fat with middling strength, and now, he’s about 9% body fat and about 275 pounds stronger on all of his major lifts. Furthermore, and more importantly, really, other areas of his life have been impac...

Some people say you absolutely need to eat protein before your workouts to maximize muscle and strength gains. Others say eating before you train doesn’t matter, but eating after is vital. Others still say neither of these “feeding windows” matter, and that you just need to make sure you’re eating enough protein on the whole. Science isn’t exactly clear on this matter, either, because each of thes...

In many ways, building the body of your dreams is just like building anything else worthwhile. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it . . . to a point. You’ll have to train hard to get the body you want, but you can’t only rely on your afterburners. Punish your body with intense workouts week in, week out, without taking breaks or deloads, and your journey will be marred by . . . - R...

Getting injured sucks. It’s not just the pain of the injury itself that’s annoying, either. You also have to alter your diet and training or even take time off altogether. Under-recovering sucks too. Push yourself too far and your training becomes a slog. You’re sore all the time, your lifts stagnate (or worse, regress), and you increase the risk of hurting yourself. Such are the reasons why it’s...

This episode is one of the 37 chapters of the new third edition of my bestselling fitness books Bigger Leaner Stronger and Thinner Leaner Stronger , which is now live everywhere you can buy books online. I’m thrilled to release this new edition of the books because it has been in the making for about four years now, and has been reorganized and rewritten from scratch to make it as clear, practical...

This episode is one of the 37 chapters of the new third edition of my bestselling fitness books Bigger Leaner Stronger and Thinner Leaner Stronger, which is now live everywhere you can buy books online. I’m thrilled to release this new edition of the books because it has been in the making for about four years now, and has been reorganized and rewritten from scratch to make it as clear, practical,...

This episode is one of the 37 chapters of the new third edition of my bestselling fitness books Bigger Leaner Stronger and Thinner Leaner Stronger, which is now live everywhere you can buy books online. I’m thrilled to release this new edition of the books because it has been in the making for about four years now, and has been reorganized and rewritten from scratch to make it as clear, practical,...