Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

You’ve been training hard and eating right, and you’ve been making gains. Your stomach is tighter. You’re stronger than ever before. Your friends are starting to make meathead jokes. But progress has slowed. It’s getting harder and harder to add weight to the bar and your body isn’t changing like it once was. What to do? Well, if you turn to the magazines, you’ll probably conclude that you just ha...

It’s rare for a billionaire legend to take his time to carefully outline his own personal “operating system” for achieving success and fulfillment in work and life, and that’s exactly what Ray Dalio has done with Principles . Inside, you’ll find many of his ideas and procedures for many aspects of his professional and personal life, ranging from his definition of meaningful work to his recipe for...

Some people say steroids are safe and awesome. Others say they cause permanent damage to your body and can even be deadly. Many drug users swear they’re not addicted and can quit at any point. Others admit that life is just better on steroids and don’t plan on giving them up. Many recreational bodybuilders often claim that steroids don’t make as big of a difference as everyone thinks. A quick look...

Let’s face it. One of the biggest reasons to toil away in the gym is to look good. Really good. Most of us guys want a big, broad upper body, bulging biceps, washboard abs, and a thick, strong lower half. Gals usually want lean legs, a curvy butt, and a toned upper body and abs. If you listen to the right people, you’ll discover that getting there isn’t all that hard, really. Get your calories and...

This episode is part of a weekly 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: Every Monday morning, 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’s o...

There’s no denying the fact that people’s body weight tends to remain settled in certain ranges over long periods of time. There’s also no denying that “dieting” simply doesn’t work for most people. Sure, they can lose weight, but many regain it all once they stop the diet. And to add a cherry of hopelessness on top, we’re also often told that exercise kind of sucks for weight loss too. What are w...

This episode is part of a weekly 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: Every Monday morning, 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’s o...

In this episode, I speak with the grandfather of barbell training, Mark Rippetoe, who has given us many a great things, including books that everyone should read, Starting Strength and Practical Programming. I’m a fan of Mark and his work, of course, because nobody has done more to promote, teach, and defend barbell training than Rip, and also because of his peppery personality, which always makes...

This episode is part of a weekly 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: Every Monday morning, 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’s o...

Rob Dionne over at Open Sky Fitness was kind enough to have me on his podcast to talk about various things that I thought you might find interesting, so I wanted to share the interview on my podcast as well. Rob and I go all over the place in the interview, from the best rep ranges for building muscle and training frequency, to key lessons I’ve learned growing multiple businesses while also raisin...

This episode is part of a weekly 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: Every Monday morning, 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’s o...

Today’s guest is Strauss Zelnick, who’s known in the Fortune 500 circles as the “world’s fittest CEO.” At 61 years old, Strauss maintains a two-a-day workout schedule while running the media juggernaut Take-Two Interactive, which has given us blockbuster video game franchises like Grand Theft Auto , Red Dead Redemption , and NBA 2K , as well as his private equity firm, Zelnick Media Capital, which...

Like most everything related to health and fitness, there are quite a few opinions on warming up for your workouts. Some people say it’s vital. That skipping it not only impairs your workout performance but greatly increases the risk of injury. Others say it looks like a waste of time because it is. I mean, have you ever seen a lion “warm up” before it takes down a gazelle? Who’s right? Well, both...

One of the most important aspects of weightlifting is progression. This is the difference between exercise (moving your body to burn calories and improve health) and training (exercising according to a plan designed to produce specific long-term outcomes). This is the key to avoiding stagnation in muscle and strength gain, and to breaking through the many plateaus that will occur throughout your f...

This episode is part of a weekly 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: Every Monday morning, 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’s o...

In this podcast I interview bestselling author and competitive triathlete Ben Greenfield, and we talk about how strength training, muscle building, exercise, and diet affect aging, longevity, and health. If you follow Ben and his work, you know that this is his primary hobbyhorse. He’s obsessed with figuring out innovative and cutting-edge ways to improve his body and mind, and in this show, he sh...

Years ago, I was stuck in a rut in the gym, I was making minimum payments on tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, and I had no idea where I should go in my life, let alone how to get there. Today, I’m a “super-fit” bestselling author with over one million books sold, and the owner and founder of several 7- and 8-figure businesses, including Muscle for Life, Legion Athletics, and Oculu...

Once you understand the mechanics proper dieting, getting lean isn’t all that difficult. Sure, it’s never easy in the way that gaining weight is easy, but most of us can plod through a couple months of cutting to get some abs for the summer. The real challenge is staying lean. For the long haul. That’s what separates the fitness champions from the rest of the contenders. That’s why I invited my fr...

This episode is part of a weekly 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: Every Monday morning, 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’s o...

In this episode, I interview the co-founder and former lead researcher and writer of Examine.com Kurtis Frank on the truth about branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs).  For years now, BCAAs have been a staple supplement in the bodybuilding scene. If you’ve ever seen a muscleboy or girl in the gym lugging around a gallon jug of fluorescent liquid, chances are it’s water and BCAAs. BCAAs are extremely...

In this episode I interview Nick, who’s 40 years old and recently completed my 90-day coaching service. In this interview we talk about how he found his way to me and my work, including what he had tried previously, how things changed after he started implementing the advice in my books and articles, and how my 90-day coaching service helped him lose 19 pounds, 11% body fat, and 6 inches off of hi...

In this episode, I interview James Clear, who runs the very popular blog JamesClear.com, where he writes about many facets of the science of self improvement. I enjoy reading James’ writing because it’s simple, clear, and practical, and chock full of interesting studies, examples, and anecdotes. If you peruse his website, you’ll quickly realize that James’ hobbyhorse is habits, and that’s the topi...

You’re here because you want to lose weight fast, and that’s completely understandable. Whether you have a lot or a little fat to lose, the sooner it’s over, the better. You have to be careful what you wish for, though, because if you go about it incorrectly—like most people do—you may just wind up skinny fat. In other words, if you do what most people do—starve yourself and do a bunch of cardio—y...

This episode is part of a weekly 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: Every Monday morning, 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’s o...

In this episode, I speak with the grandfather of barbell training, Mark Rippetoe, who has given us many a great things, including books that everyone should read, Starting Strength and Practical Programming. I’m a fan of Mark and his work, of course, because nobody has done more to promote, teach, and defend barbell training than Rip, and also because of his peppery personality, which always makes...