Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - GENTLE FITNESS ADVICE

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

So much fitness advice is framed like this: FACT CHECK LOSER. IF YOU CAN’T WAKE UP AT 3 AM AND DEADLIFT DOUBLE YOUR BODY WEIGHT FOR DOUBLES IN YOUR DRIVEWAY IN THE DEAD OF WINTER, UNFOLLOW ME ALREADY BECAUSE YOU’LL ALWAYS BE WEAK, FAT, AND PATHETIC. LGBFJBLFG!!!!!! I’ve shared plenty of tough love myself. Make excuses or make it go, “secrets” never work unless you work for them, train hard even when the motivation carcass is being picked by crows, whatever. Here, however, I want to talk to you in gentler tones about fitness. Why? Although fitness requires work and effort and sometimes feels like a stormy love affair that you just can’t quit, too much lectern-pounding bust-your-assery can hold you back and even burn you out. The key is balance, in knowing when to steam and when to stroll, when to brace up and bear down and when to back off and breathe. Go, go, go versus slow, slow, slow. And that balance is often hard to find in the fitness racket. Everywhere you turn there’s another hard-faced hardo bellowing about cooking up the suck and injecting it into your veins so you can earn the aftermath one sweat brick at a time. So, with grumpy mugs and slash-and-burn sermons in more-than-ample supply these days, I want to offer a counterpoint—a few gentle fitness reminders that acknowledge that sometimes you need to growl and gut it out, and sometimes you need to grin and give more leash. Press play to hear my advice! Timestamps: 0:00 - Pre-order my new fitness book now for a chance to win over $12,000 in splendid swag: https://www.muscleforlifebook.com/ 3:18 - Intro 5:34 - Train at your own pace. 5:54 - It’s okay to feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. 6:13 - There is no one way to get fit. 6:32 - Even a little can go a long way. 6:50 - Sometimes you have to drag your draggy body through a spate of not-great workouts before you have a great one again. 7:08 - Some days are easier, and some are harder. 7:24 - Whether it's your first year or fourteenth, workouts will feel awful sometimes. 7:39 - You don’t have to hit a PR to have a fitness win. 7:56 - Comparing yourself to others is a sure way to feel lousy. 8:20 - Unswerving faith in the process isn't essential to performing the process. 8:41 - Whatever works for you is valid. 9:03 - Your motivation is an ocean. Mentioned on the Show: Pre-order my new fitness book now for a chance to win over $12,000 in splendid swag: https://www.muscleforlifebook.com/

One of the promises of my new book, Muscle for Life, which is available for pre-order right now at muscleforlifebook.com, is it can produce an outstanding level of fitness in all and sundry in just a few hours per week. And that's why it has three workout routines for both men and women, so that's six in total, that readers can choose from. There are beginner routines, intermediate routines, and advanced routines. So the beginner routines, what they do is they introduce you to proper strength training. They teach you the fundamentals of good technique, and they greatly enhance your strength balance and coordination. And then on the intermediate routines, they increase the difficulty of your

workouts by incorporating more challenging exercises, including more dumbbell exercises, which allow you to more effectively challenge your muscles. And then the advanced routines, they are the most difficult in the Muscle for Life program, and they introduce you to barbell exercises because those offer the biggest bang for your buck in terms of strength and muscle gain. Now, which of these routines would be best for you? Well, if you are new to strength training or if you haven't done it consistently in a while, I would say in at least a year, then the beginner routine or a beginner routine is going to be best for you because that is going to be demanding but also approachable. Now, if you dabble in strength training and you meet the

following strength standards, then intermediate routine is going to be right for you. So if you're a guy and you can do at least one set of 15 feet elevated pushups, one set of at least 15 body weight rows, and one set of at least 15 bodyweight squats, then intermediate might be the right place to start. You'll have to keep listening for the advanced strength standards. And if you are a woman and you can do at least one set of 10 pushups, one set of 10 bodyweight rows and one set of 15 bodyweight squats, then you would qualify for the intermediate routine. Now, if you are an experienced weightlifter and you meet or exceed the following strength standards, then an advanced routine would be the best place to start for you. If you can dumbbell bench press at least 25% of

your bodyweight for at least one set of five reps. If you can trap bar deadlift at least 75% of your body weight for at least one set of five reps. And if you can dumbbell goblet squat at least 25% of your body weight for at least one set of five reps, then you are strong enough to start on an advanced routine. So basically whether you are a middle-ager or even a golden-ager who has never lifted a weight in your life, or-order a copy, now you will be entered to win over $12,000 of awesome fitness swag that I'm giving away. And you can find all of the details of the giveaway over at MuscleForLifeBook.com. Hey, hey, and welcome to Muscle For Life. I'm Mike Matthews. Thank you for joining me today. Quickly, if you haven't already, please do subscribe to the show in whatever app you are listening to me in so you don't miss new

episodes. And it helps me because it boosts the ranking of the show in the various charts. Now, so much fitness advice is framed like this. Fact check, loser. If you can't wake up at 3 a.m. and deadlift, double your body weight for doubles in your driveway in the dead of winter, just unfollow me already because you will always be weak, fat, and pathetic. Let's go, Brandon. Fuck Joe Biden.

Let's fucking go. And I've shared plenty of tough love myself, make excuses or make it go. Secrets never work unless you work for them. Train hard, even when the motivation carcass is being picked by the crows, whatever. Here in this podcast, though, I want to talk to you in gentler tones about fitness. Why? Because fitness requires work. It requires effort. Sometimes it feels like a stormy love affair that you just can't quit. But too much lectern pounding, bust your assery can hold you back and even burn you out. The key is balance in knowing when to steam and when to stroll, when to brace up and bear down, and when to back off and breathe. Go, go, go versus slow, slow, slow. And that balance is often hard to find in the fitness racket. Everywhere you turn,

there's another hard-faced hard-o bellowing about cooking up the suck and injecting it into your veins so you can earn the aftermath one sweat brick at a time. So with grumpy faces and slash and burn advice in more than ample supply these days, I want to offer a counterpoint, a few gentle fitness reminders that acknowledge that sometimes you need to growl and gut it out, and sometimes you need to grin and give some more leash. So the first is train at your own pace. Progress is progress. Sometimes it's in stones throws. Sometimes it's in country miles. I'm cheering for you just as you cheer for me because we all want to live in a fitter

and healthier world. It's okay to feel like you don't know what you're doing because even the fittest people in the gym didn't always know what they were doing. And many of them still don't really know what they were doing, and many of them still don't really know what they're doing. Many of these people, though, they learned as they went along, and they made many mistakes. You can do the same thing. There is no one way to get fit, no one true plan, no secret treasure map to the land of big butts and bigger biceps, no alchemical formula of magical eating and training techniques. Find the way that works for you.

Even a little can go a long way. A 30-minute walk every day can kickstart the process that transforms your body and life. A huge triumph. Most people transform themselves once every never, so go slow if you need to. Sometimes you have to drag your draggy body through a spate of not great workouts before you have a great one again. It's normal, so just train. The good and the bad are just part of the process. Train anyway, press on. Some days are easier and some days are harder. Your best workouts are rarely the easy ones, though, and your hardest workouts aren't write-offs. This is just the way the cards come out sometimes, so keep going. Whether it is your first year or your 14th year, workouts will feel awful sometimes, like you don't know what you're doing, like you're chasing the

wind, like you should quit. It's okay. Shrug it off. Plow on. You don't have to hit a PR to have a fitness win. Sometimes it's just going for a walk or doing some pushups or just not eating the whole pizza or whole box of cookies. You're doing great. Keep it up. Comparing yourself to other fitness folk is a sure way to feel lousy. There is always someone who looks better, who lifts more weight, who has more of whatever you want. The deck is stacked. You can't win. So turn your gaze inward instead, looking only at who you were, are, and hope to become. Unswerving faith in the process isn't essential to performing the process. So train anyway. Stifle your self-doubt. Stick it in a memory hole and bury it. You can dig it out and you can deal with it later. Sometimes fitness is just getting out of your head and out of your way.

Everyone wants to tell you what to eat, what not to eat, what burns fat, what doesn't, what's evidence-based, what isn't, but ultimately whatever works for you is valid. Your fitness is yours to explore, to evolve, to enjoy. And one more for the road. Your motivation isn't a puddle that fades in a balmy afternoon. It's an ocean. It ebbs, it flows, but it never runs dry. It has murky depths. It has roiling whirlpools, shiny treasures, and sparkling beaches. Sometimes you sink and sometimes you swim. inches. Sometimes you sink And if you didn't like something about this episode or about the show in general, or if you have ideas or suggestions or just feedback to share, shoot me an email, mike at muscleforlife.com, muscleforlife.com, and let me know what I could do better or just what your thoughts are about

maybe what you'd like to see me do in the future. I read everything myself. I'm always looking for new ideas and constructive feedback. So thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon.