Muscle for Life

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: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

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 systems and not people. This is especially true if you also want a business that can scale. And that’s the focus of this book. Want to be notified when my latest book recommendations go 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 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 makes sense for certain people under certain conditions, but these people are in the minority, and you’re probably not one of them. Here are a few of the things you’re going to learn in this episode... Why what commonly passes for “ketogenic dieting” in the fitness space isn’t true ketogenic dieting. Why the ketogenic diet can help you lose weight faster -- in the short term at least -- but probably can’t help you lose fat faster. Why the ketogenic diet isn’t optimal for gaining muscle and strength, and why a high-protein & high-carb diet is better. How the ketogenic diet can benefit your overall health and well-be

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 many people in the fitness space have little regard for the nutritional quality of their diets. Thanks to the rising popularity of flexible dieting, more and more people are realizing that they can more or less eat like shit and still be lean and muscular, which is why you see the social mediaz full of such people boasting about how much crap they can “fit into their macros” while still having abs, as if it’s some sort of “lifehack” or dietary achievement. Well, what they’re failing to realize that our bodies need a lot more than just “macros” to function optimally and stay healthy and, ultimately, disease-free over the

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 dominate the fitness social media scene, how much of a difference the right drugs can make, and how easy it is to get your hands on anabolics (you can buy ‘em on Amazon, FFS…). And so I’m asked about steroids. A lot. And so I thought I’d make a podcast to answer the questions that I get most, like… What do I think of people who take steroids? Why am I not on steroids when it could probably help me make more money? What are good and bad reasons to take steroids? How can you tell if someone is on steroids? How dangerous are steroids, really? 5:02 - What do I think about people on steroids? 6:27 - Are there good and bad re

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 peer-reviewed papers under his belt. 

I’ve referenced his work quite frequently in my own writing, so it’s a pleasure to interview him and pick his brain about the science of making gains. This time we’re talking about how to gain muscle quickly without just getting fat.   As you probably know, some fat gain is inevitable during a proper bulk, but most people make a handful of common mistakes that not only sabotage their efforts to gain muscle but set them up for a long, grueling post-bulk cut that, in many cases, more or less wipes out the progress they made.   The good news, though, is when you know what you’re doi

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 topics, and people loved the interview so I wanted to get him back on to talk about the bane of every weightlifter: injuries. Now, contrary to common belief, weightlifting isn’t nearly as dangerous as many people think, and especially when you’re using good technique, progressing intelligently, and generally taking good care of your body. That said, if you lift weights for long enough, you’re going to experience at least a minor injury, even if it’s only a soft tissue problem stemming from repetitive use. And when it does happen, it’s going to frustrate the shit out of you, because as anyone that has gone through it

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 new book, running several businesses, raising a family, and so forth, and while there are deeper discussions that can be had about purposes, priorities, and perspectives, a great place to start on the problem is simply time management.  In short, if you make a few simple changes to how you spend your time every day, you might be shocked at how much more you can get done and how effortless and enjoyable it can feel. As you’ll see in this interview, this is really low-hanging, common sensical stuff that, for whatever reason, very few people actually do. And to break it all down for us, I’ve recruited personal train

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, I was really excited to get him on the podcast to talk about what he specializes in: the science of getting bigger and stronger. And specifically, I wanted Greg to address a hot topic these days, and that’s the relationship between gaining strength and size. In other words, does maximizing muscle strength also maximize muscle size, or as many people say, is strength training rather poor for making your muscles bigger. I get asked about this all the time and there’s a lot of misinformation out there, so I thought this would be a worthy discussion, and as expected, Greg knocks it out of the park. As you’ll see, he br

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 Everest in just a pair of shorts, and even better, has taught others to do the same. Scott’s latest book, What Doesn’t Kill Us, which I highly recommend you read, started as a mission to debunk Wim’s claims. After four years of research and personal experimentation, he realized that they’re not only true, but they raise bigger questions about what we’re really capable of physically, mentally, and, spiritually. That, of course, is what this interview is all about. Scott shares with us the details of his almost surreal journey with Wim, and how he learned to use cold exposure and simple breathing techniques to boos

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 getting enough sleep is important, but not everyone knows just how important it really is, especially for us fitness fanatics. Sleep insufficiency has been linked to car crashes, industrial disasters, and medical and other occupational errors. It increases the risk of chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, depression, obesity, and cancer, and it dramatically reduces our quality of life and productivity. Research shows that inadequate sleep can slow down weight loss, lead to weight gain and muscle loss, and reduce testosterone levels. The bottom line is that your sleep hygiene is like your diet - it’s either wor

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 better, how to get more out of it, how to make more money from it, how to build a bigger following, and so forth, and honestly, I don't have great answers - at least I didn't, I have some better answers now, thanks to the interview. But I didn't because I'm notoriously bad at social media. Honestly it's just a matter of time, I put a lot of time into other things that help build my businesses and following, but not very much time in social media. Nick, on the other hand, is very good at it, he puts a lot of time in social media, so I wanted to pick his brain on a whole host of things like: how he proves to people tha

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. Instead, we talk about a variety of topics ranging from business, to personal growth, happiness, money, fame, and more, and I’d love to hear what YOU think about the discussion. I plan on branching out and producing more content along these lines because more and more people are asking to hear my thoughts on these things these days and they’re subjects I enjoy to read and speak on, so it’s a win-win. So much so that I’m actually am working on a new book that’s going to be my “playbook,” so to speak, for achieving happiness, success, and fulfillment in life. And I know that sounds like every other self-help/development

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 because, well, I figured he might enjoy a change of pace. So, in this interview, I chat with Bret about nutrition and exercise science and get his thoughts on all kinds of things ranging from what makes for good and bad science, how to become more scientific in your thinking, his favorite researchers and labs, how to reconcile conflicting studies, and more. I wanted to do this interview because more and more fitness “gurus” are appealing to science to sell their ideas and wares these days, and it’s getting harder and harder for everyday people to distinguish the hucksters from the genuine articles. So, I hope you find

In this podcast, I interview Jeff Nippard, who’s a professional bodybuilder and online coach that produces a lot of great content on YouTube. I came across Jeff thanks, once again, to Cory, who works with me in my supplement company Legion. She turned me on to his YouTube channel and I really liked a video he made on glute training and figured it would make a good podcast because while I’ve written about it before, I haven’t spoken much about it. So, that’s what this interview is all about: how to build a better butt. And in it, Jeff does a fantastic job breaking down more or less everything that you need to know, ranging from the best exercises to do and how to do them most effectively, the best rep ranges to work in, how to program a glute program properly, and more. So, if you want more booty, then this interview is for you. 6:54 - Where should you start if you want a better butt? 9:39 - Any tips for how to move up in weight on the hip thrust and make it more comfortable? 14:05 - How would you recommend

In this podcast I interview Paul Revelia from prophysique.com. I got introduced to Paul’s work from Cory, who works within Legion, and immediately liked him. He’s a lifelong athlete and natural bodybuilder, he has a lot of hands-on experience coaching men and women of all ages and circumstances, and he not only really knows his stuff, but he also touches on quite a few aspects of diet and exercise that most people don’t talk about. I myself have picked up quite a bit from his work, so that’s always a good sign in my eyes. In this interview, I pick Paul’s brains about what changes as you transition from a newbie to an intermediate and ultimately advanced weightlifter. Specifically, what you need to know to make sure that you keep making progress and, just as importantly, keep enjoying your diet and training. That last point is something many people don’t consider, but it’s hugely important because even when you do everything right, progress is much harder to come by once your newbie gains are behind you. And

In this podcast I interview James Krieger from Weightology.net. James is a published scientist, author, and speaker, and someone whose work has really helped me better understand the fundamentals of losing fat, building muscle, and staying healthy. He has a knack for breaking down complex ideas and systems into easily digested morsels, which is what I strive to do in my work as well. So, in this interview, I pick James’s brain on the hot issue of eating grains. We’re hearing more and more that grains make us fatter, sicker, and dumber, but how true are these claims? Is wheat slowly killing us? Should we avoid gluten? Are some grains safer or better to eat than others? What about GMO crops? Should we worry about them? Well, James answers all of these questions and more, so if you’ve been wondering or worrying about your grain intake, then you definitely should listen to what he has to say. So, with that, let’s get to the interview... 5:57 - What is the state of grains and should we be worried about them?

In this podcast I interview Menno Hennselmans, from BayesianBodybuilding.com, and we talk about how genetics affects your muscle and strength gains and aesthetics. I thought Menno would be the perfect person to talk to about this because he’s one of the leaders of the evidence-based fitness movement, and one of a handful of people in this space whose work I regularly follow and recommend. So, if you’ve been wondering about how your genetics influence things like the rate at which you can gain muscle and strength, how big and strong you can ultimately get, how your muscles look as they develop, and more, then you’re going to like this interview. Here it is. 4:33 - How much do genetics affect speed of muscle growth & what are realistic expectations? 15:40 - What is the potential for muscle hypertrophy & size? 26:00 - What is the timeframe to reach your genetic potential? 28:50 - How do we predict the ceiling of our fat free mass? 38:20 - Is FFMI a hard and fast rule for the limits of a natural lif

This is an interview with professional bodybuilder and coach Alberto Nunez from Team 3DMJ on how to spot and fix muscle imbalances. I thought Alberto would be the perfect guy to talk to about this because he not only talks the talk, but he walks the walk. He’s an accomplished bodybuilder with an absolutely insane physique, and he and his team have also helped hundreds of other bodybuilders build their best physiques ever and make a career for themselves. I’m also excited to put this interview up because it’s a question I get all the time from both guys and girls, so I’m sure there are quite a few of you out there that could use some help in this regard as well. As you’ll see, the whole topic of muscle imbalances is pretty simple and straightforward when explained correctly. You just have to understand a handful of technical points and guidelines, and you’ll know exactly what you have to do to balance out your physique, left to right, and front to back. Oh and I do have to warn you about one thing: my audio

In this podcast I interview Jeff Alberts, who’s an accomplished natural bodybuilder with nearly three decades of experience competing, and 2 pro card wins, 16 class titles, 26 top 3 finishes, and first place in the 2014 IFPA Pro International. As you’d expect from someone with so much bodybuilding experience, Jeff’s also an accomplished coach. He’s worked with hundreds of athletes over the last 5 years, and started the 3DMJ brand, which has now expanded to include four other coaches, including Andrea and Eric, who I also recently interviewed. In this podcast, Jeff and I talk about the major lessons that he has learned about what changes as you get older, and what you can and can’t do in terms of gaining muscle and losing fat. I get asked about this type of thing all the time because many guys and gals think that if you’re over a certain age and not already in great shape--40s is usually the cut-off--you’re basically screwed. They think that you won’t be able to build any muscle to speak of, that you’ll pro