Muscle For Life with Mike Matthews

If you're having trouble losing weight and keeping it off… If you're battling hunger and cravings… If you want to "reset" your system after a period of poor health habits… Or if you generally just feel like crap… You might find yourself seriously considering some sort of "detox diet." The yoga girl swears by a 3-day water cleanse. The smiley doctor guy says a juice diet can give you a shiny new liver. The raw food weirdo gushes about the wonders of eating everything uncooked. And don't get me started about the Instagram "models" smugly posing with their green smoothies and kale chips. The more you look, the more cleanses and detox programs you find, with each one apparently better than the last. The problem, however, is all of them are missing the forest for the trees. While it's true your body is regularly exposed to a wide variety of toxic substances, and while some of them are particularly nasty and can accumulate in body fat, there's no evidence that trendy "cleanses" and "detox diets" help mitigate the damage or rid the body of toxins. That is, yes, your body has a certain amount of harmful chemicals deposited in its fat stores, but no, drinking a bunch of lemonade for a week isn't going to do anything about it. If you want to feel and look great for the rest of your life, you need to commit to several things: - Exercising your body several hours per week (resistance training is particularly important). - Eating a lot of high-quality food with special emphasis on plenty of fruits and vegetables. - Not smoking. - Consuming alcohol in moderation. - Avoiding dependencies on drugs and medicines. - Maintaining good sleep hygiene. So, if you want to know why you should stop trying to detox your body, listen to this episode! --- Timestamps 5:42 - Do toxins cause weight gain? What causes weight gain? 23:31 - What are toxins and how does the body process them? 29:02 - Do detox diets help with rapid weight loss? --- Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Poke around online for weight loss tips, and you'll invariably come across the idea that you shouldn't eat at night. Why? Proponents of this idea usually claim that your metabolism doesn't work as well at night, and thus any calories you eat are more likely to be stored as fat instead of being burned for energy. Sounds ... kind of scien-y-ish ... but is it true? Does your metabolism really slow down as the day drags on? Are calories eaten in the evening inherently more fattening than calories eaten in the morning? Can eating more calories in the morning and fewer calories in the evening really help you lose weight? You'll learn the answers to all of these questions in this podcast. You'll learn exactly why people think eating at night makes you gain weight, what really causes weight gain (hint: it's not eating at night), and what science actually says about how late-night eating affects your metabolism. Let's get to it! the morning? 9:15 - Does intermittent fasting help you lose body fat? 19:41 - Does eating at night reduce your quality of sleep? --- Mentioned on The Show: Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

"My Life-Changing 30-Day Digital Detox" "10 Signs You're a Smartphone Zombie" These are headlines you might see if you search the interwebz for digital "addiction." It's no secret that people use their smartphones, social media, and various apps more than ever before. The benefits of this technology are obvious, but there's also a downside. We end up distracted, spending too much time on things that don't matter, with less time for things that are important to us, like our health, families, and life goals. But are these modern technologies really a new, unique problem? How can we navigate a world filled with limitless distractions? To help shed some light on the topic, I invited Nir Eyal onto the podcast. Nir knows both sides of this coin intimately. His first book, Hooked, is all about how to build habit-forming products. He's helped numerous companies (including the New York Times) build "addictive" products that can do good in your life and he's even taught a course on the subject at Stanford Graduate School of Business. But by being so intertwined with the inner workings of habit-formation, Nir also knows how to break habits and make these apps and services serve us rather than the other way around. That's why Nir wrote his latest book, Indistractable, which is what this podcast is all about. In this interview, Nir helps us understand ... - The root causes of distraction and how productive tasks can still be distractions - Why you shouldn't try to be satisfied or happy all of the time - How to "surf the urge" and supercharge your willpower - Why you should timebox your day - How to discover your values and find what resonates with you - And more ... So if you want to take back your life and not feel so addicted to apps and services, listen to this podcast. 8:13 - You went from writing a book about getting people hooked on products, to a book that is intended to help people avoid that. How did that happen? 16:38 - What is the difference between external and internal triggers? 22:20 - How do we get better at embracing discomfort? 49:33 - How does time boxing work and how do you use it? 53:04 - What are your thoughts on finding your personal values? --- Mentioned on The Show: Indistractable by Nir Eyal: NirAndFar.com/Indistractable Schedule Maker Tool: nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/ Summary Article: www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/ Distraction Guide here: www.nirandfar.com/distractions/ Habits vs routines article here: www.nirandfar.com/habits/ Nir's Instagram: www.instagram.com/neyal99/ Books by Mike Matthews: legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

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 one thing to know what you want to do, but it's something else altogether to actually make yourself do it, and I hope that this series gives you a jolt of inspiration, energy, and encouragement to get at it. So, if you like what you hear, then make sure to check back every Monday morning for the latest and greatest installment. --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

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 questions: - What is positive nitrogen balance? - How bad is sitting? - How can you lose muscle from specific body parts? If you have a question you'd like me to answer, leave a comment below or if you want a faster response, send an email to mike@muscleforlife.com. Recommended reading for this episode: legionathletics.com/sitting-is-the-new-smoking/ legionathletics.com/energy-balance/ Timestamps: 3:36 - Can you lose fat and build muscle at the same time if you maintain a positive nitrogen balance? 14:57 - How do I lose muscle from a specific body part? 26:24 - How detrimental is sitting? --- Mentioned on The Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

You're about to start a weight loss diet. You know you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. You know roughly how much you need to eat every day to lose weight. Maybe you even have a meal plan mapped out. But there's still one question you haven't been able to answer: how long should you stay in a calorie deficit? If you poke around online you'll see different theories about the "ideal" length of time you should stay in a deficit before giving your body a break. Some say you should diet no longer than 12 weeks. Others say you can diet as long as you want. And others say you should only stay in a deficit for a few weeks at a time before taking a diet break, giving your body and mind a breather, and then enduring another bout of dieting. Who's right? Well, here's the truth of the matter: How long you should spend in a calorie deficit boils down to how fast you can lose fat without losing muscle, and this depends on how much fat you have to lose and how lean you want to get. So, instead of giving you a one-size-fits-all answer like "12 weeks," I'm going to show you how to decide exactly how long you should stay in a calorie deficit to reach your goal weight. Let's start by looking at how fast you can lose fat without losing muscle. 2:49 - How long do I need to be in a calorie deficit? 6:14 - How do you calculate how much fat you can lose before you lose muscle? 16:51 - How long should i stay in a calorie deficit and when should I take a diet break? 23:31 - How do you do a diet break? --- Mentioned on The Show: Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Humans are social creatures. We like having our "tribe"—people we can rely on when times get rough or who we can celebrate with when times are good. That said, most of us have experienced negative Nancys who just bring us down. Maybe they're always complaining, or they're a business partner not pulling their own weight, or they only share bad news, these people make your life worse when you interact with them. A simple step to make your life better, then, is not only eliminating these people from your life, but avoiding them in the first place. And that's exactly what I chat with Jordan Harbinger about on this episode of the podcast. In it, we discuss how to foster good relationships, how to avoid "radioactive" people, how to develop a sense of self worth, and "one simple trick" to cultivate a network in just a few minutes a day. In case you're not familiar with Jordan, he's been coaching people on relationships and social skills for over 10 years and is the host of the award-winning Jordan Harbinger Show, one of Apple's most downloaded podcasts. Let's dive in! 11:33 - How can you overcome the scary feeling of making a big change in your life? 14:43 - How do you analyze a situation and see how that decision will affect your life? 21:21 - Do you think it's common for a person to stay with someone so they can blame their failures on them? 23:14 - Does this also apply to romantic relationships? 28:41 - How do you develop a sense of self worth? 54:06 - How do you deal with people who bring you down? 01:00:22 - How do you cultivate a healthy network? 01:06:13 - How do you network under 6 minutes? 01:09:01 - What can you bring into this person's life that can benefit both people? 01:23:42 - Where can people find you and your work? --- Jordan Harbinger's Website: www.jordanharbinger.com/ Jordan Harbinger's Podcast: www.jordanharbinger.com/subscribe-to-the-podcast/ Jordan Harbinger's Instagram: www.instagram.com/jordanharbinger/ Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching: legionathletics.com/coaching/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

As of right now, I've produced over 500 episodes of Muscle for Life, totaling over 700 hours of content. I've talked about 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 fasted cardio. Some episodes resonate with my crowd more than others, but all of them contain at least a few key takeaways that just about anyone can benefit from (that's what I tell myself at least). And as cool as that is, it poses a problem for you, my dear listener: Ain't nobody got time for that. Well okay, some people do make the time to listen to most or even all of my podcasts, but my wizbang analytics tell me that while many listeners tune in on a regular basis, they don't catch every installment of Muscle for Life and thus miss out on insights that could help them get a little better inside and outside the gym. People have also been saying they'd like me to do more shorter, multi-topic episodes, like my Q&As. And so I got an idea: how about a "best of" series of podcasts that contains a few of the most practical and compelling ideas, tips, and moments from my most popular episodes? This way, people who are new to the show can quickly determine if it's for them or not, and those who enjoy what I'm doing but don't have the time or inclination to listen to all of my stuff can still benefit from the discussions and find new episodes to listen to. So, in this episode of The Best of Muscle for Life, you'll be hearing hand-picked morsels from three episodes: Jeff Nippard on building your best butt ever The Best Diets and Workouts for Your Body Type MFL Book Club Podcast: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey And we'll be starting with number one, Jeff Nippard on building your best butt ever. --- 4:48 - Jeff Nippard on building your best butt ever 19:13 - The best diets and workouts for your body type 26:52 - MFL Book Club Podcast: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey --- Mentioned on The Show: https://legionathletics.com/podcast-jeff-nippard/ https://legionathletics.com/body-type-podcast/ https://legionathletics.com/mfl-book-club-podcast-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people/ Shop Legion Supplements Here: legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

If you've read anything about bodybuilding, you've probably heard about something called "the pump." In a nutshell, this refers to the temporary increase in muscle size that occurs when you lift weights. Bodybuilders have been strangely obsessed with this phenomenon since people started lifting weights, and according to many, it's the cheat code for unlocking rapid muscle growth. George Butler and Charles Gaines, authors of Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, claimed getting a muscle pump, "feels like one of those fast-frame films of flowers blooming or seeds ripening; the muscles seem actually to go from pod to blossom in seconds under the skin." This explanation reveals one of the main reasons weightlifters like getting a pump: it's a visible sign your efforts in the gym are paying off. Your muscles are getting bigger before your eyes! This preoccupation with the pump hasn't waned, either. You'll still find articles touting the benefits of "chasing the pump"—bodybuilder lingo for doing lots of reps with short rest periods until your muscles are swollen and sore. Others counter that chasing the pump is a fool's errand. Temporary muscle swelling has nothing to do with muscle growth, and your time is better spent getting as strong as possible, they say. So, who's right? In this podcast, you're going to learn what the pump is, what causes it, why people think it's important, why it isn't essential for muscle growth, and why it's still worth doing some "pump" training in your workouts to get the best results. Let's get started! --- 6:20 - What is the pump? 8:23 - What is pump training and is it good for building muscle and strength? 17:31 - How can I program pump training? --- Mentioned on The Show: Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

"How many sets should I do?" "When should I add more volume and how?" These are questions I get all the time, and especially lately. That's because some recent studies have shown that basically, the more you do in the gym, the more you grow. Some studies suggest that doing as many as 40 sets per muscle group per week results in more growth than doing 20 sets. Is that really true though? And if so, how many sets should you be doing every week for optimal growth? Should we just do as many sets as possible? And on the opposite side of the coin, is there a minimum amount of volume we can get away with? To help answer these questions, I invited James Krieger back onto the podcast. Not only is he a published scientist and researcher, but he's an accomplished writer who's published a humongous treatise on training volume on his blog Weightology. His work is a legitimate "bible" on training volume that's examined just about every study you'd be able to find on this hot topic. In this episode, James enlightens us on … - The different methods of counting volume and which one's best - How many sets beginners should do and how that changes as you get more advanced - Whether you can "resensitize" your muscles to volume increases - If you should "cycle" your volume - How to specialize certain muscle groups - And a lot more! So, if you want practical guidelines on how much volume you should do for optimal training, and how to keep making gains, and breach plateaus, listen to this episode. 7:02 - What is volume? 8:56 - Why do you prefer number of hard sets over total reps? 10:13 - How much volume should I be shooting for, for each of the major muscle groups? 14:23 - Why do you have to up the stimulus from intermediate to advance weightlifting? 20:02 - At what point should you consider doing more, how far can you take it, and why? 26:37 - How would you approach focusing on one major muscle group? 36:16 - With the studies that showed growth with lower volumes, were those with experienced weight lifters? 37:22 - Is there a point where volume doesn't become a stimulus anymore? 45:11 - What are your thoughts on direct versus indirect volume? 49:42 - Where can people find you and your work? --- Mentioned on The Show: James Krieger's Website: https://weightology.net/ Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

"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, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more opportunities you have to succeed. On the flip side, I also believe there's little hope for people who aren't perpetual learners. Life is overwhelmingly complex and chaotic, and it slowly suffocates and devours the lazy and ignorant. So, if you're a bookworm on the lookout for good reads, or if you'd like to get into the habit of reading, this book club for you. The idea here is simple: Every month, I'll share a book that I've particularly liked, why I liked it, and several of my key takeaways from it. I'll also keep things short and sweet so you can quickly decide whether the book is likely to be up your alley or not. Alright, let's get to the takeaways. --- Mentioned on The Show: Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to be notified when my next book recommendation goes live? Hop on my email list and you'll get each new installment delivered directly to your inbox. Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

In this episode, I interview Chris, who used my work to help turn his life around and even escape depression. When he first started working out, he didn't know what he was doing with his training or diet. But thanks to newbie gains, he made progress anyway and learned to enjoy lifting weights. Along the way, though, things started to turn sour outside the gym. Financial troubles mounted, his relationship began to unravel, and Chris stopped going to the gym. He gained more and more weight as stress and depression began to take their toll, and then things came to a head: Chris and his wife separated. That was the moment he decided to get back in shape. It was around this time his brother (who lost over 200 pounds following Bigger Leaner Stronger!) introduced him to my work. Chris started following the Bigger Leaner Stronger program inside and outside the gym and, well, it helped him completely transform his life. He lost a boatload of fat, getting down to 15% body fat, added a ton of strength to his big lifts, and perhaps most importantly, was able to stop taking medication for depression. In this interview, Chris and I discuss his story, how he originally fell off the rails, how stress and strained relationships impacted his physical fitness, and how he turned it all around, including the small changes he started making to build long-lasting habits, how he improved his mental health, and more. So if you're looking for a jolt of inspiration and like motivational stories, I highly recommend you listen to Chris's. 7:10 - Where were you before and after finding Legion? 8:08 - How much weight did you lose and what was your body fat percentage at the beginning? 12:39 - What was going on in your life before you started getting back into shape? 16:33 - At what point in your life did you come across Legion? 19:05 - How long did it take your brother to lose 200lbs? 19:52 - How has getting back into working out affect your headspace? 23:26 - How was it transitioning into a better diet? 27:47 - What does your current diet look like? 38:29 - What are your future plans? --- Mentioned on The Show: Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Well, here we are, quarantined because of this VIRAL BOOGALOO blitzing around the world like it's 1941, ravaging the defenseless lungs of tens of thousands of men, women, and children. Gyms are shuttered, Charmin Ultra Soft is now worth its weight in gold ammo, and protein bars have become a prized delicacy. The worst part for us fitness folk? HOME. WORKOUTS. Because for most of us, that means instead of our divine daily communion with the iron, we have to putz around with boring bodyweight exercises and bands. Guess what, though? Home workouts don't have to be an unproductive slog. Although you can't fully replicate the effectiveness of compound weightlifting, you can still gain (or at least maintain) muscle and strength with a well-designed home workout routine consisting of bodyweight exercises. And if you have some bands or dumbbells, that's even better. So, if you want to learn how to work out at home when you can't go to the gym, keep reading. You'll learn the best bodyweight, band, and dumbbell exercises, and I'll share workout routines you can start right away to stay swole through these trying times. Before we get to that, though, let's address a question I'm sure you've asked yourself already. --- Time Stamps: 4:26 - Should I go back to the gym after the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted? 15:58 - Are home workouts worth it? 26:17 - What are the best body weight exercises? 30:00 - What is the best way to use resistance bands in home workouts? 13:11 - What is the best way to use dumbbells and kettlebells in home workouts? 35:56 - What is the best home workout routine? 44:17 - What equipment should I have for home workouts? 45:37 - What are some advanced strategies for making my home workouts more effective? 48:31 - How do you use tourniquets and knee wraps properly? 50:31 - Should I incorporate sprinting to my home workout routine? --- Mentioned on The Show: Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

The argument over whether or not men and women should train differently is an old one. Years ago, "experts" said women should train with light weights and high reps to "tone" and "sculpt" their bodies, whereas men should train with heavy weights and low reps to pack on muscle. In the past few years, the pendulum has swung in the other direction, with many people claiming women and men should follow the exact same training programs. And others say that while men and women should follow most of the same training principles, they should still follow slightly different programs for optimal results. Who's right? Well, I tend to fall into the latter camp (the principles of training remain the same, but how they're applied differs for men and women), but I also wanted to pick the brain of author, coach, and podcaster, Mark Rippetoe. In this episode, Mark edumacates us on ... - How and why women differ from men in terms of strength performance - What neuromuscular efficiency is and why it matters when designing a strength training program - What vertical jumping skill tells us about motor units, power, and raw strength - Why women should train with triples - And more ... Press play and let's dive in! 12:54 - What's the significance in the difference of a vertical jump? 32:26 - Why do singles for women translate into better performance? 44:20 - How would you take menstrual cycles into account? --- Mentioned on The Show: Mark Rippetoe's Website: https://startingstrength.com/ Mark Rippetoe's Podcast: https://startingstrength.com/radio Save up to 30% during Legion's Spring Sale: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, life was business as usual. Now, we're just a few weeks into the COVID-19 lockdown, and it's looking like this will be the "new normal" for at least another few months. And us fitness folks are having a time of it. For one thing, you have to work out from home, and if that weren't bad enough, some grocery stores are running out of stock on meat, vegetables, fruit, and other healthy staples. So you're probably wondering, how the heck are you supposed to eat healthy through this mess? Should you cut, bulk, or maintain? And how are you supposed to avoid overeating? You've probably seen news stories about people binge eating junk food to mollify their frayed nerves, and others grazing throughout the day to mitigate their boredom, leading some people to call weight gained during the lockdown the "quarantine 15" or "COVID-15." Well, the good news is that if you know what you're doing, eating healthy during the quarantine is bat . . . er . . . duck soup. In this podcast, you'll learn exactly how you should diet to not only avoid getting fat, but to maintain your muscle mass and even lose fat while stuck inside. Let's get started! 2:18 - Should I be cutting during quarantine? 12:03 - Should I be lean bulking during quarantine? 19:08 - How can I avoid overeating? --- Mentioned on The Show: Save up to 30% during Legion's Spring Sale: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

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's one thing to know what you want to do, but it's something else altogether to actually make yourself do it, and I hope that this series gives you a jolt of inspiration, energy, and encouragement to get at it. So, if you like what you hear, then make sure to check back for the latest and greatest installment.   --- Mentioned on The Show: Legion Supplements: legionathletics.com/shop/ ---   Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

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 it—nobody is always right about everything. And especially in fields like diet and exercise, which are constantly evolving thanks to the efforts of honest and hardworking researchers and thought leaders. This is why I'm always happy to hear from people who disagree with me, especially when they have good arguments and evidence to back up their assertions. Sometimes I can't get on board with their positions, but sometimes I end up learning something, and either way, I always appreciate the discussion. That gave me the idea for this series of podcast episodes: publicly addressing things people disagree with me on and sharing my perspective. Think of it like a spicier version of a Q&A. So, here's what I'm doing: Every couple of weeks, I'm asking my Instagram followers what they disagree with me on, and then picking a few of the more common or interesting contentions to address here on the podcast. And in this episode, I'll be tackling the following . . . --- 4:12 - Is heavy compound lifting really best for newbies who are going it alone in the gym? 14:14 - Should you really be training your arms in the range of 4-8 reps? 22:45 - Is HIIT better for fat lost? --- Mentioned on The Show: Books by Mike Matthews: legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

"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! --- Mentioned on The Show: Legion Rebrand: https://legionathletics.com/new-and-exciting-march-2020/ Legion Health Boosters: https://legionathletics.com/products/supplements/ Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: www.legionathletics.com/signup/

If you're like most people, you've been paying attention to what's happening with coronavirus. Over 300,000 people have taken ill as of this writing and, depending on who you ask, the death rate ranges from 0.3 to 1 to 3% (one of the latest studies pins this number right in the middle at 1.4%). This makes it slightly more deadly than the flu, and significantly more deadly for those who are over 60 years old. While it's easy to blow the situation out of proportion (and the media firestorm isn't helping), it's still wise to do everything you can to shore up your immune system in times like these. You're probably already taking preventative measures like washing your hands, avoiding large crowds, and so forth, but you're still exposed to thousands of different germs every day (and possibly, COVID-19). That's not to mention the thousands of other seasonal diseases that sweep around the world every year like a swarm of locusts. And if one of these germs manages to sneak past your guard, it's up to your immune system to knock them out before they make you sick. That raises the question: can you do anything to boost your immune system? If so, which methods work and which don't? You'll learn the answers to all of those questions and more in this podcast. So, let's start with discussing what the immune system is and how it works, and then we'll get to how to strengthen it and how to prevent and quickly overcome illnesses. --- Mentioned on The Show: Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/

Scott Carney is an interesting guy doing fascinating things. I first had him on the podcast to discuss his New York Times Bestseller What Doesn't Kill Us, which took an investigative look at "hacking" our bodies and using the environment to stimulate our biology. Specifically, Scott went on a journey with biohacking legend Wim Hof, using special breathing techniques to push the limits of strength and endurance, submerging himself in ice water and climbing a freezing mountain with only a pair of shorts. Scott decided to take what he learned from Wim even further in his newest book, The Wedge, where he explores controlling mind and body to hijack stress and experience life in a whole new way. In this podcast, we discuss . . . - How too much comfort can actually be unhealthy - Developing unstoppable grit - Using kettlebell tossing to enter a flow state - Creating new neural symbols to change your experience of sensations - And so much more . . . Let's dig in! 4:47 - What is The Wedge and why did you write it? 7:44 - Is there a spiritual or paranormal component to how you respond? 9:42 - Can you change the way your body instinctively reacts? 14:14 - How do you change the way your body instinctively reacts? 18:52 - Does controlling comfort enhance other aspects in your life? 27:34 - Can change your emotional response to danger? 37:24 - Are there other interesting techniques that you discuss in your book? 48:44 - What do you mean when you say there is a spiritual element to your practice? --- Mentioned on The Show: Scott's Carney's New Book - The Wedge: https://www.scottcarney.com/the-wedge Scott Carney's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sgcarney/ Scott Carney's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottcarneyauthor/ Scott Carney's Twitter: https://twitter.com/sgcarney Books by Mike Matthews: https://legionathletics.com/products/books/ --- Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.legionathletics.com/signup/