Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

This is one of the books that I have recommended most to people that want to be more successful in business and life. It’s short, has very little filler content (much appreciated), and delivers a powerful and practical message, which can be summarized in a question: What’s the ONE THING I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary? In other words, how can we go beyo...

Those of you that follow me on Instagram know that I was in San Jose last week visiting with the Mind Pump Media team to appear on their hugely popular podcast. We had a great time chatting about all kinds of things ranging from the trials and tribulations of being a supplement seller on Amazon, my “origin story” and initial reluctance to work in the fitness space, why many supplement companies “p...

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...

If you’d like to know how to get more done every day with less worry, confusion, and stress, then you need to read this book. Unlike other productivity books that focus mostly on changing specific behaviors, adopting certain attitudes, or cultivating various habits, Getting Things Done is all about getting organized. Ironically, I think the book itself was rather poorly organized (and too dry and...

In this episode, we’re going to have a meandering discussion about willpower and self-discipline, and specifically, some of the reasons why so many people have so much trouble doing the things they know they should and not doing the things they know they shouldn’t, and a handful of simple, science-based strategies to make it easier for you to do the things you want to do and, ultimately, become th...

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...

If you like war memoirs — and WWII memoirs in particular — then you have to read Band of Brothers. Hell, even if you don’t like war memoirs (or don’t know if you like them) but do like to read about how ordinary people find the courage and capability to do extraordinary things, then you should read it, because Band of Brothers is so much more than a clinical recounting of battles or analysis of so...

If you want to know what testosterone is, how it affects your body, what will and won’t increase your body’s natural testosterone production, and what you can expect in terms of bottom-line results, then you want to listen to this podcast. Here’s a little sneak peek of what you’re going to learn in this episode: What normal testosterone levels look like in men and women, and how to know if you’re...

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...

If you like biographies and outstanding research and writing, and if you want to read one of the greatest rags-to-riches stories of all time, then you want to read this book. It is, hands down, one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. What struck me first about Rockefeller was his relentless work ethic, indomitable spirit, and unwavering self-assurance. Much like history’s great military conque...

This time I’m going to make a bit of a case for “clean eating” because I think it doesn’t deserve all the ridicule that it gets online, and especially among the “cool crowd” that love to showcase not only how good their bodies look but also how heinous their diets are. I don’t know about you, but if I had to choose between the diet of your average clean eater that thinks sugar makes you fat and gl...

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...

If you have entrepreneurial ambitions of any kind, then you need to read this book. It will teach you one of the most important lessons you can learn if you want to build and own a business, not just have another job: systematization. In other words, if you want to build a business that serves you and your lifestyle–instead of the other way around–then you need to learn how to make it dependent on...

In this podcast, I’m going solo to talk about ketogenic dieting because it’s getting more and more hype these days for losing fat, gaining muscle, and improving general health and well-being. The question, of course, is whether or not it can live up to its reputation, and as you’ll see, my current answer is no, it can’t. I’ve done quite a bit of research on it, and my take is that keto dieting mak...

In this episode I interview Dr. Cate Shanahan , who’s an author, physician, and nutritional consultant for professional sports teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets. Cate has been studying the relationship between diet and health and wellbeing for a long time now and recently published a book on the matter called Deep Nutrition, and I wanted to get her on the show because of how ma...

If you’ve been kicking around gyms for a while now, you’ve probably noticed that steroid use is becoming more and more common. Just here in the U.S., at least a million guys and gals of all ages turn to the sauce every year to get bigger, leaner, and stronger faster, and these numbers only seem to be going up with time. This isn’t surprising, really, considering how many juiced guys and gals domin...

In this episode I have Mr. Eric Helms back on the show, as promised a bit ago, to talk about how to “bulk” properly. In other words, how to gain as much muscle and as little fat as possible.   In case you don’t know Eric, he’s a member of the 3DMJ coaching team and is himself a professional natural bodybuilder and strength athlete, as well as an author  and credentialed scientist with a number of...

In this episode, I interview Dr. Layne Norton , who you’ve probably heard of, but in case you haven’t, he’s a professional powerlifter, bodybuilding coach, and host of his own podcast, Physique Science Radio, and really is at the forefront of the “evidence-based fitness” movement. I’ve had Layne on the podcast before to talk about contest prep, maximizing fat loss, reverse dieting, and a few other...

If you’re like a lot of my readers and listeners, you more or less always feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to do everything that you want to do. You might even feel that your life is totally out of balance and walk around in a constant state of anxiety about what you’re doing, not doing, should be doing, shouldn’t be doing, and so forth. Well, I know how that goes, what with writing a...

There aren’t very many people in the fitness space who I think everyone should follow, and my guest on this episode, Greg Nuckols, is one of those people. I’ve been reading his work for about a year now and really appreciate what he’s doing. When I have a question, his site, Stronger by Science, is one of the first places I check for an answer before venturing off into literature. As you can guess...

In this episode, I interview the investigative journalist Scott Carney about something gaining more and more popularity these days: cold exposure. You know, taking cold showers and ice baths, running around outside in your underwear during the winter, and so forth. This “biohacking” craze started with one man, Wim Hof, who has done some pretty mind-boggling things with his body like climbing Mount...

In this episode I interview Shawn Stevenson, author of the popular book Sleep Smarter and host of the The Model Health podcast. He’s also a super smart and super nice guy so I was excited to get him on the show to talk specifically about the subject of sleep. While I’ve written a bit about it on Muscle For Life and Legion, I haven’t really dived into it here on the podcast. Everyone knows that get...

Social Media Strategies That Help Build Your Brand with Nick Cheadle In this episode I interview Nick Cheadle who's a fitness influencer and entrepreneur who has built a huge following on Instagram, I think it's like 600,000 people now , and then leveraged it to build a thriving coaching and education business. I wanted to do this interview because I'm often asked about how to use social media bet...

This episode is a little different as it’s me being interviewed for another podcast called The Business of Coaching Podcast. It’s run by a super nice guy named Miles, who heads up a company in the UK that helps coaches--mainly life and business coaches--get more clients, get better results with them, and so forth. I want to share the interview with you because it’s not about health and fitness. In...

In this podcast I interview Bret Contreras, who’s a scientist, author, coach, and one of the leaders of the evidence-based fitness movement AND an all-around cool dude to boot. If you’ve heard of him already, you probably know him as the “glute guy” that can teach you everything you need to know about building a great butt, and while that’s true, that’s not what I wanted to talk to him about becau...