Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - How Legion Coaching Helped Bobby Cut His Body Fat In HALF In Just 90 Days

Episode Date: November 22, 2017

In this episode, I interview Bobby Samuel, who’s a recent graduate of my 90-day transformation coaching service, which helped him lose 27 pounds and get abs for the first time in his life, as well as add about 130 pounds to his major lifts and fix his form in just, well, 90 days. Before finding his way to me and my work, he had been working out for 10 years and had tried more or less everything--personal trainers, Crossfit, running, bodybuilding magazine workouts, you name it--and despite it all, he was overweight and unhappy with his body, and unsure what to do about it. Then, he found my cookbook The Shredded Chef, gave it a read, liked the food and saw results, and realized that there might be something to this Mike Matthews guy. He read Bigger Leaner Stronger next and was pretty sure it wasn’t going to work because it just sounded too simple, but decided to give it a go anyway because he had nothing to lose. He then learned about my coaching service and figured he’d might as well go all in and give himself the best chances for success, and if it was all bullshit, he’d just get his money back and move on. Well, as you’ll hear in the interview, my team put together a custom diet and exercise program specifically for him and his goals, and it exceeded all his expectations. He not only completely transformed his body but he learned for the first time how to completely take control of his body composition and build the body of his dreams. In this interview, Bobby walks us through the whole story and shares the big lessons he learned along the way, including how he made everything work as a dad of two who’s on the road every week, so if you’re in the middle of your own transformation, then I think you’re going to find it encouraging and motivating. 6:36 - How has your body changed with our program? 7:57 - What got you into fitness? 12:30 - How did our coaching program work for you? What are some of the obstacles you went through and how did you overcome them? 16:35 - How do you make the coaching program work while you travel for work? 19:58 - How do you manage what you eat at restaurants while you travel? 29:47 - What's your goal for the next year? 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/

It was transformational to have something that fit me like a glove. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to make the stuff out of the book work for me. I was able to work with someone that was an expert and tell me how to make this fit me. That's what made it efficient. That's why I think the results were so good. Hey, this is Mike from Muscle for Life and Legion Athletics, and welcome to another episode of the podcast. This time I interview Bobby Samuel, who is a recent graduate of my 90-day transformation

coaching service, which helped him lose 27 pounds and get abs for the first time in his life, as well as add about 130 pounds to his big lifts and fix his form. And yes, all in just 90 days. Now, before he found his way to me and my work, Bobby had been working out for about 10 years and had tried more or less everything out there, personal trainers, more or less everything out there, personal trainers, CrossFit, running, bodybuilding, magazine workouts, you name it. And despite all the work, he was still overweight and unhappy with his body and really unsure what to do about it. And then he found my cookbook, The Shredded Chef, and gave it a read, liked what he saw, and then liked the food and actually saw some results and realized that there might be something to this Mike Matthews guy after all.

Maybe he's not a scammer like everybody else. So Bobby then read Bigger, Leaner, Stronger next. And he, as you'll hear in the interview, he was pretty sure it just wasn't going to work because it sounded too simple. But hey, he decided to give it a go because he figured he had nothing to lose. Why not? And then Bobby learned about my coaching service and figured that if he's going to go in for an inch, you might as well go in for a mile and just go all in, give it everything he's got, give himself the best chances for success. And in the end, if it's all bullshit, he'll just

get his money back and move on with his life. And as you will hear about in the end, if it's all bullshit, he'll just get his money back and move on with his life. And as you will hear about in this interview, my team put together a custom diet and exercise program specifically for him and his goals. And he had some obstacles that we had to overcome because he has two kids. He works a lot. He's on the road a lot. And he likes to eat and he has a particular weakness for chocolate, don't we all? And despite all of that though, the results that he got from the program just exceeded all of his expectations.

Bobby not only completely transformed his body, but he also learned for the first time how to completely take control of his body composition and build the body of his dreams and how to make it a lifestyle, how to make it something that's sustainable and enjoyable. So in this interview, Bobby is going to walk us through the whole story and he's going to share the big lessons that he has learned along the way, including how he made everything work. Again, as a dad of two who works a lot on the road a lot. So if you are in the middle of your own transformation, or if you are thinking about getting started, then I think you're going to find Bobby's story encouraging and motivating. This is where I would normally

plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm just going to quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my 100% natural pre-workout fat burner supplement Forge. Now it was designed to be used specifically when exercising in a fasted state, and it helps you maximize fat burning while training on an empty stomach, minimize the amount of muscle that you lose while training in this state, and maintain intensity and focus in your workouts. All that is why Forge has over 400 reviews on Amazon with a four-star average and another 220 on my website with a four and a half star average. So if you want to get leaner, faster, and especially in the quote-unquote hard-to-lose spots like the hips, thighs, and belly, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Forge today.

And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout and you'll save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back, period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.legionathletics.com now, place your order, and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot. All righty. That is enough shameless plugging for now, at least. Let's get to the show. Hey, Bobby, thanks for coming on the show, man. I appreciate it. Hey, Mike, glad to be here. Yeah, absolutely. For everybody

listening, this is like a little monthly series that I'm doing where I'm reaching out to people that have either gone through my coaching service or just read a book of mine and put the principles into use and gotten good results with them. And I want to do these, one, of course, because it promotes my stuff. I mean, let's just be honest. But more importantly, I mean, I have many different ways to promote my things. I don't have to do it this way. More importantly, I think there's value in hearing different people's individual journeys because circumstances are different. And as we get into these discussions, various people run into various different problems. And it's always interesting to hear how they overcame them. I can only account for so much in a couple hundred page book.

And that's where also coaching is great because then you can really dig into a person's lifestyle and goals and so forth. So that's why Bobby is here and he actually has done everything. So he has gone through my book, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger and put work in there. He has used the cookbook, The Shredded Chef. It's just a flexible dieting cookbook, and it has a lot of macro-friendly and tasty meals that are also meal prep-friendly, and also has gone through my 90-day transformation coaching service. He has gone through the full Monty. Bobby, let's start with, why don't you just tell us, let's say since finding my work, and I guess starting out with Big why don't you just tell us, let's say since kind of finding my work and I

guess starting out with Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, and then eventually finding a way to coaching, how has your body changed? Like what's the long story short? The transformation has been tremendous. I cannot stress that enough. The way that I look and feel is tremendous. The one thing that most guys probably care about the most is I have abs. 40 years old, I have abs. You can see them all the time. They're there. So if anything, that's the selling point.

I mean, every workout, they talk about big arms and strong back and having abs, but every model has abs. Yep. I have abs for the first time in my entire life. And you also have big arms too. Let's, uh, let's give you that as well. Yeah. I mean, everything has come along, but the thing that's always been hardest for me to achieve has been having abs of any kind. I was never an athlete. I was never high performing, even in high school from a physical standpoint, just in sort of average Joe, mediocre. And to have abs at 40 is phenomenal to be in this kind of

physique and shape to actually have a V body shape and to look and feel confident in whether it's a suit or it's a t-shirt jeans. It all feels good. Okay. That's great. How did you, how did you find your way to fitness? Cause you know, okay. So it wasn't something that you're into when you were younger. What got you into it? So I I've been working out for a long time and stories pretty similar to what you've shared before, or what I've seen from your, your site. I was lifting weights. I had a trainer and I'd been doing that for probably about 10 years and I saw results, but then I hit a plateau and it never changed from there. So about five, six years ago, I hit plateaus and

that was it. Never got any stronger, never saw any real body shape change. And I was eating terribly. And so I was just started looking for cookbooks to find other things to eat, other things to do. And I ran across your cookbook. So I started there. I didn't start with bigger, leaner, stronger. I started with your cookbook just to see what it was. And I got to tell you, the food in there tastes phenomenal. So I've used other cookbooks, but it tastes, everything there tastes so good. It makes sense and it worked. So the food tasted good. I was like, well, who is this guy? So I started looking up, looking you up on the internet. I found your book on Amazon, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger. I was like, there's no way. This is just another gimmick.

No way this thing works. Which is, which is, I mean, given the state of the industry is probably that's, that's the right mindset to have with just about everything. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm just a skeptic in general because I was working out five days a week, you know, heavy, heavy lifting, not heavy compound lifting. I was eating food, just the wrong sets of macros, heavy lifting, not heavy compound lifting. I was eating food, just the wrong sets of macros, the wrong calories. I was just fed up. I mean, I was even looking at, I was looking at stuff on the internet to try to find some quick solution. And I ran across your stuff and I got Kindle, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger. And I have the print edition too after I got it because I wanted to like mark it up and read it. So and I read it. And I was

like, All right, you know what, I'll give this a try. This guy's saying there's no shortcuts. This is the way to do it. Let's do it. We're promising like a big change in 30 days that I'd lose 30 pounds. It was just like, here's the right way to do it. Here's a way to build a foundation. So I started lifting and I thought, man, there's a lot of questions that I have. How do I? How do I really get into this? I got a lot of detailed questions. I'm an analytical type person. And I thought, man, there's a lot of questions that I have. How do I really get into this? I got a lot of detailed questions. I'm an analytical type person. And I saw you had a coaching program. I said, you know what? Let's go all in. Let's try this. It's a money back guarantee. And I have no shame. I will return this thing if it's not going to work. So I signed up and that's how the journey began. I found your stuff purely because I was looking for a cookbook for good food. Your food worked.

And then I went from there. I found your book. Then I found your coaching service and I signed up because I was a skeptic. And if I was going to give it a fighting chance, I figured let's try the whole program. Let's see if this thing works. And that's how I started. That's great. And so how did things go from there?

So you had put in 10 years working with trainers, I'm sure then you've done, you made all the mistakes that I myself made where you're doing, you know, silly types of workouts. And I totally know what you mean in terms of eating where I wasn't in the past. It's not that I was eating terribly in an absolute sense or even a nutritional sense. It's just, I didn't know anything about energy balance or macronutrient balance or anything like that. And it's also interesting just even that because you had 10 years of experience where I don't know about you, but for me, it was about seven years before I really decided to educate myself. And I guess to my credit, at least I knew that I didn't know a lot. So it was about seven years. I didn't know what to expect though, because traditionally if you've been working out for

seven years or 10 years, normally you'd think, you know, that's it. This is all you've got. You've put in so much time and so much effort, how much more could really change? Yeah. I was doing, I mean, not to like just belabor it, but I was doing CrossFit. I was running like, you know, long distances. I was listening to like the bro science in the gyms and looking at what other people were doing because I knew other people had these physiques and they were there at the gym they were working out but they were either drugged up or they were doing something right and I wanted to figure out there had to be a way to do this it couldn't be only reserved for like the genetically favored but I was even going to try body beast anything I was going to try anything I could of course just

random random stuff just to see if I could do it I I wasn't going to try any drugs, but I was so close to just spending a ton of money on a bunch of other stuff. The 10 years of lifting and working out, and that was hard work, man. It was arduous on the knees, the joints, the back, just all sorts of issues and injuries had cropped up over time. I discovered your stuff and I was like, all right, man, it sounds so simple. There's no way this thing works. And then I started doing it. And so now, now take us from that point. So you start doing it and this is, this is the coaching program. Now, how, how has that experience walk us through that? And, and also, you know, along the way, I'm curious to hear what were some of the obstacles that you ran into and how did you guys overcome them? Because again, with the books,

I try to, I do my best to present a one size fits all program that I believe the vast majority of people are going to be able to follow and get good results with. But when you can really personalize everything, you know, it becomes, uh, that that's why we offer that money back guarantee. Just cause I know that if we can just get somebody to do what we tell them to do, we will get results every single time. You know what I mean? You can go buy a suit off the rack, like a dress shirt or something off the rack, or you can have something custom made and custom measured for you. And you're going to look better in the thing that's custom made and custom measured. There's a price to pay, but sometimes the value is worth it. I was looking for quality. And I have two kids. I travel quite a bit.

It's a busy work life. And everyone talks about work-life balance. I was looking for something that fit me well and was also efficient. So I figured, let's do the coaching program because we can customize this one-size-fits-all approach to something that was exactly and very specifically for me. A meal plan that was for me, a workout specific for me. And I was used to having a trainer with me all the time, at least once a week in the gym, having a trainer for me. And I was used to having a trainer with me, like all the time, at least once a week in the gym, having a trainer with me. So it was not a huge stretch to do this. The big stretch was that it was a virtual relationship. The trainer wasn't actually

there, but I would shoot videos of myself and I felt kind of weird or awkward at the first doing it as I was lifting these weights. But I also knew that if I didn't build a foundation of good form, that we got to the heavier, the bigger weights, that there'd just be problems that would happen later. So I was sitting there filming myself as I did this, and I wanted something efficient. So we ran into some obstacles in that I had a question in the moment in the gym, and I needed to ask my trainer. So he was signed on Skype and it's Harry who I've been working with and I continue to work with. I've signed up for the extension services just because of the value. I've never been through this type of thing before and I'll talk about that a little bit later. But I would just send

him a message on Skype and then he would respond. So I was able to answer my questions and get things done. I mean, he wasn't able to spot me or anything, but there were people in the gym that could help if I needed that. And that's what we went through. We set a meal plan together and it was the best part. It was a meal plan of stuff that I want to like, I got a treat at the end of every night. So I have a weakness for chocolate. I could always eat chocolate and then eat some more after that. Yeah, I like chocolate. Do you like dark chocolate or milk chocolate? I do not discriminate.

I will eat it all. Cake form, flourless form, bar form, you serve it to me. I will be happy to take it off your hands. And so what we did, we actually worked chocolate into the meal plan, into the macros and into what I was eating. And he put together a meal plan, into the macros and into what I was eating. And he put together a meal plan and I got a treat at the end of every night. And so that made it sustainable. It was something I things I wanted to eat.

And that was even during a cut phase as we were reducing weight. It was during a cut phase. Every night I got a treat. And so it was easy to stick through my diet through the day. It wasn't even a diet, really. It's just stick to the food I needed to eat through the day. And then by every night, I got my treat. So I was satisfied. I was happy. I went to bed excited for the next day and to work out. So what I felt like I got from the coaching program was something that fit me like a glove. The trainer or Harry worked with me as a coach to

figure out what's going to fit me and just kind of ratchet it down to my personality, my style, my approach, lifts that I was good at, lifts that I wasn't good at, and just kind of focused it on me. That's great. And I'm curious because you mentioned that you travel quite a bit. How'd you guys make that work? Because that's something that I get asked about fairly frequently. quite a bit. How'd you guys make that work? Because that's something that I get asked about fairly frequently. Um, cause then I understand because it presents, uh, difficulties. Yep. So the traveling part hurts both the macro plan and the lifting plan. So what we did is we focused my, my workouts to be on the weekend. So I only, I do a, I started out with a three day a week lifting plan and you can do cardio anywhere, like any like any hotel you've got, you can do it.

So that's how we tackled it is Friday, Saturday, Sunday lifted on the other days of the week. I did 30 minute cardio sessions throughout the rest of the week to get enough cardio in during the cut phase. And that's how we tackled it. The food was altogether different issue. and that's how we tackled it. The food was altogether different issue. That's super tough on the road. If anyone could figure out that, and I think I figured it out, but you're sitting on a goldmine if you can figure out how you can help consultants or people that travel for work stick to a meal plan. Harry and I went through items at the grocery store and we started talking about things that were easy to carry. So I basically, when I travel now, I pack my bag with food also. It's not just like toiletries and clothes. I've got big bars and peanut butter packs and a protein bar and some powder. I've got a,

like, might be obsessive compulsive, but even in a Ziploc bag, that stuff. And I get it right. I've been in the same, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah. And it's, it's every week. I mean, it's every week. So I've gotten good at it. Even at TSA, when I go through security now, I know to take the protein powder out of my bag and I have clear, so I can shoot through the line, but I know to take the protein powder out. Cause it's going to get stopped when I have like a week's worth with me by the end of the week, it's good or midweek. It's fine. So it's gotten to the point that I've gotten good at it. I'll tell you that I had to have some resolve

to figure out and determination to figure out, okay, I'm gonna make this work because the results are gonna be worth it. That's what I had to keep telling myself and keep looking at that, making sure that I could deliver on that or that I was seeing those results. The other piece that was helpful with the coaching program

was that I had to check in with somebody. So I had to basically every day record my weight and then I'd record the reps and sets and weights, that kind of stuff that I was doing when I was in the gym. And there was someone there to kind of check in. And I wanted my coach to be excited to work with me because he was seeing results. I didn't want it to be like, I'm one of those drags that, oh gosh, I got to do this job. I wanted to be fun to work with. I wanted to be somebody that like excelled. And so having to check in, I wanted every day to be a day that I won. And not every day was that, but over the time, over the history of the period, there were some significant wins. I mean, I went from what I believe just looking at pictures, I was close to 25 to 30%, maybe more

body fat down to sub 10 over 8.1 before Harry said, Okay, let's stop here. And let's let's bulk and then we'll come back down again. And I've never been through this cycle. It was transformational to have something that fit me like a glove. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to make the stuff out of the book work for me. I was able to work with someone that was an expert and tell me how to make this fit me by doing that. That's what made it efficient. That's why I think the results were so good. Absolutely. Yeah. And that's awesome. And I have one other question related to the traveling. So what about, what about restaurants? Did you, because I guess it depends on your type of work, but again, a lot of people that reach out to me, they have to travel a lot, inevitably have to go to meetings and that's

usually over food. Is that the case with you or was that the case or no? It is the case. So there's this thing of, um, there's a lot of breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings. Okay. I stopped eating breakfast and lunch, like in the traditional sense, I started carrying like food with me. And so I would eat those through the day. If I did have to have a lunch meeting, I was experienced enough to figure out here's something I can substitute. Or I would ask Harry and knew that chicken, I could always sort of gauge how much it weighed, what serving I was getting, and then some greens and things like that. And it was, okay, I'm just going to try to keep it simple and make it through. But for dinner, it depends on what phase I was in. If I was trying to be, stay low fat, like at least a lower percentage of fat

for my macros and try to make things work, you can go to like any restaurant, especially if you save your calories. And Harry worked with me on this by saving the macros through the end of the day, I was able to eat, order a chicken, a steak and have baked potato and a side of vegetables. And it's amazing how satiated you feel and you can still stay within your, you know, your numbers. Yep. But I had to work to that. I didn't know it day one. I was super paranoid day one, not wanting to screw up. And Harry just said, listen, just relax, relax. It doesn't have to be perfect. Everybody's different. Let's see if we can figure this out together. And that was really helpful to have someone there with me as I, as I figured this out. Yeah, that's great. And that is, that is a great little tip for anybody listening is,

and something I myself do if I'm, uh, I don't travel much. And if I do travel, I really don't travel for work at all. So it'd just be for pleasure. I'm not a huge foodie, but it means that I'm going to be eating in some restaurants. And I'll do the same thing where I'll usually skip breakfast or I'll bring some protein powder and just have a shake. And I'm essentially saving most of my calories for what is normally dinner. So I'll come to dinner with most of my protein done for the day and a lot of carbs and fats that I can eat just to get to maintenance. And I don't mind if I'm gone for a few days, whatever, if I'm in a slight or even moderate surplus for a few days, I don't mind it because as you know, even if you do overdo it for a few days, it doesn't even necessarily take a few days to undo it. It might only take a day or two because depending on your activity level and depending on what, I'd say more just the macronutrient composition of your meals, it's not like every surplus calorie turns into fat. There is a bit of a nutrient partitioning effect. And especially again, if you are moderating your dietary fats. Now, if you're

just pounding fried food and drinking alcohol a day, yeah, you're going to gain fat quickly. But if it's more on the carby end and you're including some protein and there's something to be said for, and this is again, I'm just kind of rambling, but little tips for people out there when you are traveling, don't discount the amount of calories you can burn just walking. So, I mean, like when I'm going anywhere, I make it a point just to walk around and, you know, not take taxis if I don't have to, because you burn 300 to 350 calories per hour walking. That's pretty significant if you're going to be walking several hours a day and saving your calories. Yeah, absolutely.

And I agree with you, Mike, on that. I would look for ways to be active as well throughout the travel week. I try to not spend a lot of time sitting, make sure I was moving around, walking to different rooms to have meetings. Like you said, I take the train or walk to the train station instead of using an Uber or taxi or Lyft to get to different places. That's definitely helpful. But the other thing for people, I don't know if this will be helpful for anyone else, but it was super helpful for me. I have incredible resolve in the morning and afternoon for food.

I can go a little bit hungry because I get busy. I've got things to do. But man, by evening time, all of that stuff fades away. So Mike, I did something quite similar to you where I kind of eat light through the day, through the morning. And then by evening, I'm able to like basically load up on my food, my carbs, my proteins and different things like that. And I've saved my fat, a lot of it for the end of the day during the cut phase. Now during the bulk phase, I'm eating fat pretty much all day. It feels great. But that's what worked for me. And I know everybody's different, but when it gets dark, that's when I'm my weakest. And so we tailored my meal plan and Harry worked with me on this too. We tailored my meal plan to fit me, my personality. Yeah. And that's, I actually tend to personally, I like eating that way even now where just because the larger any meal is generally the more lethargic you're going to feel after. And that's just a hormonal response to eating a lot

of food. So like you, I'm very busy throughout the day and I prefer just smaller meals just because I like to be as alert and, you know, not tired as possible. If I'm slowing down already at night, then I prefer to eat more food during that period anyway. Oh yeah. It's like a reward. And I've got to say, after doing this program and learning what I've learned, at least from my perspective, it's 98% food. If someone can just help you get your food right, that's such a big deal. It's 1% of it is the weights and the, and I apologize if that's not helpful at all, but 1%, 1% of that, at least for me is weights and the other 1% is cardio. But if you get your food right, almost everything else can fall into place.

Yes. Yeah. It's, it's just that point of no matter what you do in the gym, if you don't get your food, right, you're not going to see the results that you want. Of course, it's still great for your body. It's great for your health, but you're not going to, you're not going to get the abs. There's just no way without getting your food, right. And then of course, with that comes, that's where, where, where a lot of the frustration comes. And, you know, there's also something to be said for someone in your position, an intermediate weightlifter who has a lot of experience. Diet becomes especially important for gaining muscle and strength as well.

It's not just about losing fat. And that's a mistake that a lot of people make is when they start out, let's say for the first six, eight, maybe even 12 months, it's very easy to make progress kind of just eating very loosely, maybe just following some guidelines like, yeah, I eat some protein with every meal and who knows what my numbers really are. You can get away with that in the beginning. But once the honeymoon phase is over, many people don't realize how important it is to be consistent and accurate with your diet, even if you're not trying to lose fat. It's just to continue making progress in the

gym. I don't know how long you've been bulking for, but you'll see that. It sounds like it's already kind of kicked in because you're feeling good. I'm sure your workouts are good. You get that momentum that comes with being in a slight surplus most of the time. It's very different though. If your calories alone were inconsistent and were too low. So if let's say you were three or four days out of the week, you were in a deficit, even if it's a slight deficit, just because you're not really tracking and you're trying not to overeat.

And then a few days a week, you'd be in a surplus. That's a very different experience in the gym than what you're doing right now. So in a sense, like your diet is very crucial in fueling progress in the gym. Because what will happen is if you don't get your diet right, if you were to do what I just described, you would be stuck in the gym. You wouldn't really be gaining reps. You wouldn't be adding weight to the bar. And accordingly, your body weight would just remain stuck. So it's it's good that you're having that experience now. Because many people don't realize it or don't want to do it because they're afraid of putting on some body fat because they don't realize how easy it is to just get rid of it when you're ready. Yep. And I've got to say that this is not a race. For me, the way I looked at it,

I wasn't racing anybody to get there. I wasn't competing with anybody to get, to get to the target that I was looking for. I was doing this for life. This is not like a quick fix. Yeah. It's not a fad for me. This is, this is life. I want to live my life in a way that's healthy in a way that shows results of what, you know, we're all work. We all work hard in the gym. And I wanted those results to be evident. So because it wasn't a race, it was okay for me to be lifting super light weights when we started. And I know I say super light weights, but for big, big people in the gym lifting heavy amounts of weight, and I would be the guy there next to them when I first started, making sure my

form was airtight. And I was with that was Harry doing videos. We corrected some pretty major things on deadlift on squats on incline bench on flat bench, just kind of positioning and shoulder safety and back lower back safety, just trying to make sure that we did things the right way. So that as we got to the bigger ones, you don't have to keep dropping weight or you don't have to get to a point, hurt yourself. We even got to a certain point on deadlift where we got to a point and Harry didn't like what he was seeing. So we tweaked something and drop the weight so we could get it right. We've all been, I mean, I've been

there. Anybody that has been honest with themselves throughout their weightlifting career has gotten there. We've all gotten a little bit overzealous or sometimes we just don't know what we're not aware of it until we see it on video. Yeah. So, you know, I've done, I've done the same thing on deadlift and squat and overhead press. Yeah. Today at, at deadlift, I was at 320. Wow. Great. So to me, that's, that's such an accomplishment. I didn't, and I never thought I'd lift more than like a couple hundred pounds for that. So it's, to me, it's transformational and the strength is astounding. Yeah, that's, that's great.

And what's your plan from here? Like, what are your goals? Have you given some thought like over the next year, what you want to do or? I want to help others. Like, in all honesty, this is not my line of work. I want to help others because people are out there buying just crap and wasting their time on these quick fix type things. So my goal is to help others. So if that's my long-term goal to help others, instead of inventing something new, I can point them towards this because it works for me and

sure it'll work for other people, but they've got to give it a shot, a fair shot. So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to go through all the phases. I want to go, you know, I've been to the bottom of a cut now and I got to maintenance and now I'm in a bulk. I want to do another cut with my coach to really understand and sort of learn some of the nuances of how things are supposed to work and how they feel. experience what that is and what that feels like. And then I want to help people get there. And one of the easiest ways to help people is if I actually have results and say, Hey, listen, you can have this. Here's, here's how it works. And I've noticed in the gym, people start asking lots of questions because they've seen the weight change. They've seen that you see the people that are there every week. And I was that guy every week, they're lifting the same thing. And that's, you never see a change. Every week they're on the cardio, on the elliptical or the treadmill, no changes. At this point, I get lots

of questions of people asking for advice. And it's kind of dangerous to be one of the bro science folks and give advice to folks. So I just point them back to bigger, leaner, stronger. I just say, start there. Take a look at this. This is what works for me. I'll show you what I'm doing. And that's what my, my coach has done the same thing. He's not really like kind of taught me so that I depend on him. It's been more of like, here's how you, he's been teaching me how to fish rather than catching fish for me, if that makes sense. Yes. And that was one of my personal, that's what I wanted the service to be just because it's one of the things I didn't like. I mean, I, like you, I had gone through, I had been working with trainers at one point, probably for about a year straight, tried different trainers. And that's one thing I didn't like. And it was, it was pretty obvious

that they wanted me to think that they have some kind of inside line or secret understanding of how things really work. And it was my job. That's what I was paying for. I was paying for them to just tell me what to do, but not why. And I didn't like that. Yep. Exactly. Exactly. And I don't think they're ill-intentioned. They're trying to do the best. I mean, I understand there's an economic, there's an economic factor in play. I mean, they need to keep their clients. So, you know, I understand that it's just when I just want to do it differently with this coaching service. And I, because I was thinking that I have enough people in my orbit, there's never going to be any shortage of clients. So we don't have to try to hang on to everyone.

And 90 days is enough time to teach everybody really the 20% that's going to give them 80%. If they want to then go off and program themselves and do everything themselves then they're equipped to do that or like you if they like working with their coach and they also just like having everything done for them which i understand especially when your time is limited it's just nice to to yeah even if you could do it yourself there's an opportunity cost because it takes time and then there's obviously some some additional benefits that you get from working with a good coach that you just don't get by yourself. Absolutely agree. And there's the concept of the way that I feel like your coaching system and your system has treated me. I'll use another analogy for those that are familiar with like a vegetable garden. You go in and you just

sort of like you rip the things out at harvest time. That vegetable is not going to give you anything else. Once you pull it out of the ground, you're going to eat it and it's done. But you've treated at least your coaching system treated me more like a fruit tree, like an orchard where you've taught me, you've tended to it, not to get too like philosophical here, but in a fruit tree, fruit garden, you continue, that tree continues to bear fruit. It's not like you're going and sort of just like destroying a vegetable garden by pulling stuff out. You tend the customers, you take care of them. And I use that in my work as well. You take care of the customers, you do what's right for them. And I know you've got to make money doing it, but you do what's right for them and you tell them the truth and that will bear fruit over the long run.

And that's what I feel like you're trying to do. And so that's why I support this. That's why I even came on this podcast because it's, it's been that kind of treatment the whole way through. I like the analogy. I like all the analogies. This is good. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to take a note of that one. Actually, that'd be good for copywriting. But no, you're absolutely right. And that's been, that's been the approach, not just with muscle for life in the books, but also over at Legion, we really try to do the same thing is just take as good a care as we can of our customers as possible. And just know that even if that means losing out on money that we could have now, there's the, just the emotional and the spiritual

satisfaction of knowing that, you know, we're doing the right thing and treating people the way that we want to be treated. But then there's also the economic payoff in that people appreciate that. And they just, even if it's just being honest in terms of, yeah, you don't need the, you don't need that supplement. There's really no reason to buy it because of how piss poor the ethical standards are generally in the supplement space. Even little things like that, you know, make a difference and people go, oh, wow. And that makes them much more likely to come back when maybe they do need something. So it just makes sense all around. Yeah, absolutely agree. All right. Well, um, is there anything else that you want to share or you think everybody should

know? The one thing that I will share, if you take away nothing from this and you just take this one thing away, it's that you just got to do it. Just jump in both feet. Don't stick one toe in. Just dive in because their results are plenty that you can go out and look at the folks on Legion and see what's happening and see the effects and just have a resolve to do it. Just give it a chance. Give it 90 days and don't expect that you'll look like a fitness model in 90 days, especially if you're a newbie. Don't expect you'll grow, you know, 30 pounds of muscle and, you know, be stacked when this is done. Set some realistic goals, but just do it because it's incredible to see the results and see that happen.

It's so worth it. It's worth it. So thank you, Mike, for doing this. This is it's been meaningful to me and it's changed my life. Absolutely. to me and it's, it's changed my life. Absolutely. And you know, I'm, it's, it's nice for me to hear those things. Cause you know, sometimes you get mired in the, in the day to day, all the different random things that need to be done. And these are nice reminders. It's like, yeah, this is why we're doing all this, this right here. This is why. Awesome. It was great talking to you today.

Yeah, you too. Thanks again for coming on. Really appreciate it. And for everybody listening, if you want to learn more about the coaching service, you can just go to muscleforlife.com slash coaching, and you will see a sales page I put together that explains how it works. And you can see some success stories and you can schedule a free consultation call to speak with my director of coaching. His name is Matt. It's not a high pressure sales call. It's really actually just a call to see where you're at, where you want to be, and if the service is a good fit for you. So if you're interested, head on over and check it out. Mike, one more thing. If anybody wants to chat with me about it, I'd be happy to just give them a non-employee recommendation. I can even talk them through some of the difficulties. So happy to be a reference if somebody

just wants to ask, how do you go about it? Or what do you do? What are some helpful things to talk to your coach about? I'd be happy to talk to people about it. Absolutely. Do you want to give people a way to contact you? Yeah, why don't you just, you can contact me over Skype. Let's just do that. It's Bobby underscore Samuel. So B-O-B-B-Y underscore S-A-M-U-E-L on Skype. Happy to chat with you. Perfect. with you. Perfect. Thank you. podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how

to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mikeatmuscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself

and I'm always looking for constructive feedback, so please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in, so instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my 100% natural pre-workout fat burner supplement, Forge. Now, it was designed

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