Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - How My Coaching Helped Michael Lose 30 lb. in 6 Months

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

In this episode, I talk with Michael, who experienced a life-changing transformation through Legion's coaching service. Michael had always been active, but it wasn't until he hit 245 pounds that he decided to go all in on improving his fitness. He started following the Bigger Leaner Stronger principles and quickly saw results, but signing up for Legion’s Body Transformation Coaching took it to the next level. With guidance on nutrition, training, and mindset, Michael went from 244 to 214 pounds in a few short months, achieving more than he thought possible. In this podcast, Michael shares insights into his remarkable journey, including the challenges he faced and overcame. He discusses the importance of expert guidance in optimizing his nutrition and training, and how this led to significant improvements in his overall health. Michael also reveals the unexpected benefits of his transformation, from increased energy levels to a more positive outlook on life. Tune in to hear Michael's inspiring story and learn how dedication, combined with professional coaching, can help you transform your body and your life. --- Timestamps: (06:15) Previous fitness journey (09:38) Previous weight lifting (10:08) Mindset and goals (19:36) Major diet shifts (26:21) Training routine (33:34) Cardio routine (38:19) Supplements (46:28) Future goals --- Mentioned on the Show: Stronger Than Yesterday Whey+ Legion Coaching

It was in middle of July I had my annual physical and the first thing that stunned him was my blood pressure at that time was like 100 over 60. Am I labs came back perfect in the fact that I only weighed 217 pounds blue is my he's like. Can i show them i had my phone i go this is what i'm doing you guys that's amazing and i go there's my diet you know this is what i do. He goes, that's amazing. And I go, there's my diet. This is what I do. He was stunned. I mean, I'm not on the blood pressure medication anymore. I feel fantastic.

I mean, the best I probably felt in years. I mean, even back into my 30s, you have a lot of energy. You get up, you do whatever. It's great. And it's just because of the program. Hello, hello, I'm Mike Matthews. This is Muscle for Life. Thank you for joining me today for a new episode because of the program. Hello, hello, I'm Mike Matthews. This is Muscle For Life.

Thank you for joining me today for a new episode where I spoke with Michael, who in six months of one-on-one coaching with my sports nutrition company, Legion, lost 30 pounds, reduced his body fat percentage from about 25% to about 14 or 15% who increased his squat bench and deadlift by about 100 pounds, who got his blood pressure into a

good range, stopped taking medication for his blood pressure with the blessing of his doctor of course, and maybe most importantly improved his golf game as well. And so in today's episode you are going to hear Michael's story, how he got up to 245 pounds and decided that enough was enough, that he was going to go all in on his fitness, how he found me and my work, how he found his way to my coaching program, and then how he and his coach worked together to transform his body and health in just six months. Before we begin, how would you like to know how to drop from 18.9% to 10.2% body fat in just 14 days?

Well, forget calories in and out because that is a toxic colonial construct that's faker than math and triangles. Instead, what you need is timed doses of hand stands, bishop's cap cactus needle supplementation, and Satali breathing exercises. Those things will do the trick. Now, what if you want to extend the muscle building effects of whey protein powder? That's easy, you just do what your hunter gatherer ancestors did to bulk up fast.

They added sprouted galangal root to their grass-fed whey protein shakes. And how would you like to be able to indulge in weekly guilt-free carborgies? Well, all you have to do is train your body to convert the excess glucose into muscle-pumping glycogen rather than waist-expanding belly fat.

And we can thank Nazi scientists recruited by the US government in Operation Paperclip for a little known method of doing just that. And it is eating raw German red garlic one hour before the binge. Cloves and cloves of raw German red garlic. The more the better my unfabricated data suggests. So yeah, none of that actually works, but it does give you an idea of what you will not find in my newest book that I just released called Stronger Than Yesterday, which is available right now on Amazon.

And what you won't find is page after page of quasi-scientific gibberish and pretense geared toward peculiarity and persuasion rather than practicality and performance. Instead, in this book, you are going to find a few things. One, simple, evidence-based, time-proven diet exercise and supplementation techniques that will help you improve your body composition, reduce the risk of disease and dysfunction, slow aging, and more. Two, motivational musings that will inspire you to wallow in fewer cheat days, skip fewer workouts, and generally stay out of your own way on your fitness journey.

And three, you'll find zany fitness meanderings that I hope will earn your smile because, as Victor Borges said, a smile is the shortest distance between two people. said a smile is the shortest distance between two people. And one of the reasons I wrote this book was simply to get closer to more like-minded people like you. What's more, about half of the chapters in Stronger Than Yesterday are educational and the other half are motivational, which means that this is a book you can dip into every day for a morsel of knowledge, a spark of encouragement, a moment of joy. And by doing just that, by reading and absorbing just a few daily pages, you can gradually upgrade your mindset, your diet, your exercise, your

supplementation, rest, recovery, stress management, and more. And also, for whatever it's worth, I spent nearly two years working on Stronger Than Yesterday because that's simply what it took to produce something that is good enough to hopefully not just meet, but beat your expectations. So again, the book is called Stronger Than Yesterday. It's available right now on Amazon, whichever Amazon you shop on. And if you do read it, or if you do listen to it, I'd love

to hear your feedback. So please let me know. Hey, Michael, it's nice to meet you. Thanks for taking the time to do this. All right. Thank you's nice to meet you. Thanks for taking the time to do this. All right, thank you. Nice to meet you. Yeah, so we're here to talk about you, probably one of your favorite subjects, and specifically talk about your health and fitness journey. So can you just briefly describe for people to start kind of your before and after,

or even if you want to go after and before, but just to give people a snapshot of kind of before you found me and before you found my work and where you're at now. Yeah, before, I mean, I had worked, had different fitness plans where I'd lifted weights and everything, but I never really did the full program, you know, diet, you know, and everything. It was like, you get decent results, but something was always lacking.

Last year, it's one of those deals where you go, wow, I weighed myself after New Year's. I weighed 245 pounds. I go, you got to do so. I went back, I remember Jim, I had a workout plan that he really didn't like. And they used to have trainers there, but they didn't have a trainer at this time. So I'm like, all right, I got to do something. So I went online, found your book. Um, and I started the five day a week plan, lifting and some cardio and stuff and started getting results.

And the next thing I thought, well, you had the online training and I thought wow All right, let's try this. So I made the decision to sign up for that and then I want all it like literally No alcohol Follow the diet Did everything didn't skip workouts. So I went from 244 to 214. And it was amazing.

And actually 214 because I had like a couple days where I caught the flu or something. So I wasn't eating. That was more weight than I wanted to lose. My goal was 220. So we worked my way back up to 220. But it was like, wow. It actually was fairly easy to do if you want to do it. This is the time I said,

you're going to do it exactly. You're following everything. I didn't even take cheat days for a lot of time, nutrition wise. It just worked out great. How long did it take to lose that weight and gain a bit of muscle strength? I started the program at the end with a trainer. It was at the end of February. and by the first of May, I was in that 214 range. So it came off pretty quick. And then, Alyssa, we would work with the cardio and the calories and we started bumping it back up and the cardio got shut off till I get back to the 220. But it worked out perfect. And I renewed with her and it went through most of the summer.

And now I'm kind of doing it on my own, but I told her, I said, I might get back into this. I want to do something different though, more core and flexibility. The lifting, I got to the point where I'm comfortable with a muscle mass, but I want more flexibility and core and stuff. The legs, I'll probably just keep working legs hard because I like to golf and that's a lot of it, you know, legs and core and stuff.

So I will probably go back to it, but I still follow the diet exactly the way it is. And is this a new approach to fitness for you or have you done this type of thing previously? I had done where I would work out and stuff but I never really incorporated the nutrition part of it. I'd eat whatever, drink, you know, if I wanted to have a couple beers I'd have some beers and I didn't, I mean I've gone back you know after golf I'll have a couple beers for the guys. I mean it's not but it's not every day and you follow it.

It just, it works out well. And how did you get to, you mentioned that you just got into a headspace where you decided you're just going all in. And you said, you really have to want to do these things. And I wanted to come back to that and just

hear your thoughts and hear your experience with that in particular, because it's so true. And this is what anybody listening back to that and just hear your thoughts and hear your experience with that in particular because it's so true and this is what anybody listening who is struggling currently to achieve their fitness goal, at least I'm going to say probably most of the people, they know what they're supposed to do generally and there aren't any obstacles that can't be overcome, that simply cannot be overcome, that it would require breaking the laws of physics. All right, if that's the obstacle, that's a real obstacle.

We're not gonna get past that obstacle. However, of course, the issue that we've all dealt with is varying degrees of discipline and motivation and really wanting to do what it takes to get there. And so can you talk a bit about that for you and your journey? I probably have to go back a little bit. In 2022, I was having issues with my one eye

where I say like I would look at something, I'll put you on a wall and it was warped. It started off in the fall of the year when people started putting Christmas lights up and everybody told me, I think you have a cataract. Okay, so I got into the eye doctor, it was like the first part of January, 2022. And they started running tests and all of a sudden everybody got quiet. Come to find out I had a tumor on my retina, which very rare, but it happens to men over

55. It's almost like that's exclusively what happens. So the next day I'm in the Cleveland Clinic with this surgeon and he went through the whole thing and he told me, all right, here's your two options. They can do this radiation. You're going to lose a site in your eye. He goes, but what I recommend and what I usually do, we remove your eye. You won't have to do anything. But the one worry is this type of cancer won't go to the other eye. You won't have to do anything. But the one worry is this type of cancer won't go to the other eye, it won't go to your brain, but it can go to your liver, especially.

So I mean, there were some other things that happened in 2022 after that. My wife passed away suddenly and you get into bad habits when you're on your own. I have three golden retrievers that keep me kind of grounded, but you can do whatever. And so I got to where I was drinking at home, just a few drinks every night. And it just got to the point where, you go, you got to do something. You got to snap out of this. And that's what when I weighed myself, I'm like, you got to do something. You got to snap out of this. And that's what, when I weighed myself, and I'm like, you weighed 245? No, you're going to get in the shape

and just cut it right out. And it was so amazing. I've gone to the same doctor, I'm 64 now. I've gone to my doctor since I was 28. And I remember him one time telling me, the lowest weight I ever recorded was when I was 28, it was 229 pounds. And he always used to say, you know what I mean? And I was on blood pressure medication.

I mean, it wasn't like I had super high blood pressure, but I was on blood pressure medication. He always was like, you know, when I was weighing around the low 240s, you can stand to lose like 10 pounds, and watch a drinking, exercise, and everything will be good. It was in middle of July, I had my annual physical, and the first thing that stunned him was my blood pressure at that time was like 100 over 60.

My labs came back perfect, and the fact that I only weighed 217 pounds blew his mind. And I showed him. I had my phone and I go, this is what I'm doing. He goes, that's amazing. And I go, there's my diet. This is what I do.

And he was stunned. I mean, I'm not on the blood pressure medication anymore. And I feel fantastic. I mean, the best I've probably felt in years, I mean, even back into my 30s. You know, you have a lot of energy, you get up, you do whatever. It's great. And it's just because of the program. And I have to ask, so what though happened with your eye? What did you do? Dave, I have a prosthetic eye. I, you know, and I forget about it.

Yeah. I mean, I also were for people listening, I'm, I'm watching him on camera and I, I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have guessed that. Yeah, that's, it's my right eye. And thankfully, my left eye is my dominant eye and his 2020 vision. I mean, I wear reading glasses because of the computer and stuff, but I don't wear glasses for anything else. One thing that affects me is depth perception. When I'm putting, I don't see the subtle changes in degree that people see.

I say that's the reason why I have such a high handicap. That's part of it. Lack of hand-eye coordination is the other part of it too. But at least you're out there, Galt. Yeah. And I want to ask about alcohol in particular, because that's also a common obstacle that people need to overcome. It's not, as you know, the point is not to completely avoid alcohol, but many people do come to the and often are disappointed when they come to the realization

that achieving their fitness goals, it is going to require just drinking less wine, for example. When you drink a large amount of alcohol and get into shape, maybe kind of depending on circumstances, but are you going to enjoy that process? No, it's going to be very unenjoyable actually. And so it sounds like you didn't reach the point of maybe alcoholism, but it sounds like you went from regular consumption and of course, life events leading you to that makes a lot of sense, but you went from that regardless to a lot less consumption.

And how was that process for you? And was there anything in particular that helped you make that stick? I think a lot of it was when I started doing it. At the same time, I was starting the program. So you saw the result. And it got to where you didn't need it. I've been still in my house. There's alcohol in there. I just don't drink it. I go meet people, go to their house or whatever. I'll have a couple of drinks or I'll have a couple of drinks after golf. And like today is Monday night

football and I live south of Buffalo since it's Bill's game. This is one of the worst. Yeah, you might have a few beers because of that. My my dad's from Buffalo, so I've been there many times. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but it was I went I think it was I stopped on Super Bowl Sunday, which is before I started the program, because I decided I was going to do that. And I went all the way to Memorial Day.

It was like 105 days that I went. Then I had a few beers and you realize, even just having two or three beers, the effect that it has on you the next day when you wake up, which is really nothing, but you feel it. You feel sluggish, you just don't have the energy or something. I thought, man, to go back to what you used to do, it destroyed me. You feel so good.

I had a friend who did the same thing. He just did it during Lent. He's the same way now. He goes, I can't drink like that anymore. I like the fact that I get up and I feel good. So he doesn't drink at all during the week. The same thing, we're like Friday afternoon or Saturday after golf, we have a few beers and the rest of the time, no, nothing.

That contract is something that many other people have mentioned who have gone through that experiences by not only cutting it out, but also then doing these other positive things, eating better, exercising, then they start feeling so good that when they go back to adding alcohol, it's not like they have to try to gaslight themselves into thinking like, no, they feel it. The next day, they're like, wow, I've been feeling really good and I actually didn't realize how bad I was feeling previously until I started to feel much better. A common analogy that I've heard is you can liken how you feel the next day to maybe similar

to how you might feel if you sleep really poorly. It's just not a great day. And so once you make that connection, even if it's not intentional, it just happens because you experience it, where you're now, it would be like taking actions that might make you feel good temporarily, but are guaranteed to make you sleep terribly, and you know exactly what that's going to be like the next day, you naturally now are just less inclined.

There's a part of you that might want to, but now there's a bigger part that says, I think I'd rather sleep well and feel good tomorrow. or just less inclined. There's a part of you that might want to, but now there's a bigger part that says, I think I'd rather sleep well and feel good tomorrow. Yeah, that's the thing I noticed. You don't sleep well. And even just, like I say, two or three beers. You wake up the next morning, you go, I'm just off.

You know, I just don't have the same energy or anything that I have usually. And you just go, man, you had three beers. That's what did it. Yep, and similar to sleep, right? Like when you just go, man, you had three beers. That's what did it. Yep, and similar to sleep, right? Like when you don't sleep enough, you just feel off. You just, there's no way to really fix it. Even if you take a nap, at least for me,

you can feel a little bit better, but it's just not quite the same. Now, and on the diet side of things, was this a major shift in alcohol aside? But looking at food, were there any major changes? For example, did you go from a lower protein to a higher protein? Did you start eating more fruits and vegetables? Yeah, definitely more fruits and vegetables and higher protein. Cutting out stuff that there's no fast food. I don't, nothing.

And were you eating that previously? Yeah, it was an easy thing. You know, pick up something, just eat it. And now, you know, you look at labels and you go, I'm not eating that. And one of the things I did, I got on Factor and I have meals delivered, you know, so like five meals a week. And it's, they're good, healthy meals, have a salad with them. I mean, my, my breakfast now are things like oatmeal, more high protein stuff. And you look for stuff that, you know, where before, you

know, I could have done anything. Lunch is usually like some sort of salad or, you know, something high in protein, but not a lot of fat in it. In dinner, I do the factor things and things like that. I cut out sweets and I don't miss them. My sweets now are Greek yogurt, the non-fat Greek yogurt, that's instead of like ice cream.

I have a cup of that. Was that surprising to you that you don't miss? It was surprising that I thought, wow, you really don't miss it. And you can change your diet. I might my cheat thing now is chicken wings that are like with dry rub on. That's that's my cheat meal. It's not that bad. But it's that's my cheat meal. It's not that bad, but that's my cheat thing. That's the one thing I still have to have. And that's mostly protein. Sure, there's a bit of fat, but still it's a high protein meal. It's certainly not that it would be totally fine if you wanted to have a bowl

of pasta or maybe you want to have ice cream, whatever you want to have. But as far as quote unquote cheat meals go, chicken wings are there. Those aren't even clearly in the realm of like, okay, that's something you definitely want to eat in moderation per se. I mean, if you eat too many wings, again, it's going to be as you know, there's just going to be too much dietary fat. But that could even just be a regular source of protein in a meal plan, hypothetically, you know what I mean? Yeah, and I stick with, you know, I follow the calories really close. I mean, I've cut it down. Now, I usually try to stay between 28 and 2900 calories a day. And that seems to be good. I maintain the weight right now. I think I weighed myself today as a 221, which that fluctuates up and down.

I'm going, okay. And so I'll keep it that. And if I notice it creeping up, then I start adding some cardio in and stuff. And I might dial it back to say 2,700 calories just to keep it at that 220. Because I like the weight of 220 and I want to stay there. And for people wondering, I'm assuming you're taller than average. Yeah, I'm six foot four. And yeah, I mean, I could... At 245, I don't look grossly heavy. You have, you know, your stomach, but I can carry the weight. And at 220, I look really good. I mean, it's like, holy God, you feel so much

better. It's the perfect weight for me. I mean, I think when I started with Alyssa, she was like, where do you want to get? I go, I don't know, maybe 230. And as we got into it, I go, all right, let's shoot for 220. And we got down to it. And I thought, wow, I didn't think I could do this, but yeah, it's good. Did you weigh and measure? Was there a period where you were doing that to kind of calibrate your understanding of portions and so forth? I go off of whatever it says on the servings. I don't get into the weighing of it.

And I just kind of judge the serving by whatever it says on the label and stick with that. One of the easiest ways to increase muscle and strength gain is to eat enough protein and to eat enough high quality protein. Now you can do that with food of course, you can get all of the protein you need from food, but many people supplement with whey protein because it is convenient and it's tasty and that makes it easier to just eat enough protein and it's also rich in essential amino acids which are crucial for muscle building and it's digested well, it's absorbed well. And that's why I created Whey Plus which is a 100% natural grass-fed whey isolate protein powder made with milk from small sustainable dairy farms in Ireland. Now why whey isolate protein powder made with milk from small sustainable dairy farms in Ireland.

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Use the coupon code MUSCLE at checkout and you will save 20% on your first order. And if it is not your first order, you will get double reward points and that is 6% cash back. And if you don't absolutely love Way Plus, just let us know and we will give you a full refund on the spot.

No form, no return is even necessary. You really can't lose. So go to buylegion.com slash way now, use the coupon code MUSCLE at checkout to save 20% or get double reward points and then try WayPlus risk-free and see what you think. And on the training side of things, so what did that look like throughout this period

when you were you've been working and where you lost 30 pounds and so forth? It really just the way I look because with lifting five days a week, which I really like that program because you know, you usually it's less than an hour of lifting and you can get that in. And it just, I mean, I had some people like my nephew, his wife, she looked at me one day and I said, just how much do you squat? She goes, your legs are like, I'm freaking believable. I said, you know, I told her what I'm doing. I showed her, she's like, oh my God. And she said, I see it with your chest and everything and your back. And I go, yeah, it's just, you feel really good.

And there's always like the workout or the one exercise. Like initially it was like deadlifts. I hate them. And I go, you need to do that just because you don't like them, you need to do it. And you start seeing the benefits from it. I've posted that joke on social media. Do I want to do deadlifts today? No. Is that a reason to not do deadlifts today? No. Squats too, sometimes. Are there any exercises that didn't work

for you? Any substitutions that you had to make or any obstacles that you ran into along the way, just adjustments that you needed to make for your circumstances? Some of it was because I belonged to Planet Fitness and so you don't have a lot of barbell stuff and Smith Machine, which I'm in the process somebody is Showing me another gym in the area

So I may switch to that it just because there's more options as far as free weights and stuff There were a couple things I had so I have some trouble with my right shoulder. So Certain exercises I have to with the, like the lateral raises and stuff, I'm never going to do a lot of weight. It just, it's 15 pounds. That's all I can do and stuff like that. So there's some limitations with that, but the rest of it, no, nothing. That's great. And I meant to ask that on the diet too. So over the course of the months when you lost a bunch of fat, gained a bunch of muscle and strength, were there any obstacles that you had to overcome on the diet, any adjustments that you had to make? Or was it more or less you

started out with a plan, maybe you tweaked a couple meals and you kind of just stuck to the plan and got what you wanted? That was more like, you know, you tweak things. Once you started into the diet, you got so used to it that to break from it now it's become a habit. Like, you know, I liked the food. Um, Alyssa was always, you know, how's, how's it going? You know, you feel hungry. Do you, you know, not really. No, it, cause the other thing is I'm drinking plenty of water.

So you kind of have that full feeling a lot of the time and I didn't really miss anything. So the adjustments that you did make, though, I'm just curious, like specifically, what were those for you? Because usually there's a starting point, and then you start to learn a little bit of, okay, actually, I would prefer this, I want to shift some calories from this meal to this meal, and so forth. from this meal to this meal and so forth. Yeah. It would be like, say for breakfast, I would never do like smoothies or oatmeal or things like that.

It was always like eggs and, you know, bad. And so I started shifting to that. And then you start realizing, I really like this stuff. Lunch, I got away from canned soup because it's got so much sodium. It was more into chicken breast and there's different things you can do for lunch. Then the dinners were usually the factor dinners, which there were things in there that I probably

wouldn't have ever ate vegetable-wise. And it's pretty good. Recipes. Recipes are the key with vegetables. There's so many ways to prepare them. And if they're well prepared, they can go from being painful to eat to enjoyable. Yeah. And I is pretty much salmon, chicken, vegetables. I don't eat a lot of red meat at all.

Occasionally, I'll have a burger or something or something with ground beef in it, but it's usually chicken and salmon. And you get to where you're so used to it. It's like, you'll like it. That's what you want. It makes you feel good. So I eat it. Have you found that, okay, so you like salmon and then you prepare it a certain way for, it could even be months, and then it's time to just prepare it in a new way and that kind of renews it for you. Have you experienced that with any food? Yeah, you get different. You go, okay, let's try this. And some of it, like with the factor

thing, they'll always have a new one. I'm like, well, that's different. I'm going to try this. And so yeah, I found out, I haven't found one that I don't like, you know, and it just, it's something different. And it's the same thing with chicken. I mean, you can have chicken cutters in different ways that they, you know, with the different recipes. And I don't feel like I'm missing anything. And it, the diet works really well.

That's why I mentioned that because I know a lot of people who are just starting out and are concerned about food fatigue and are wondering, how could I possibly eat salmon and chicken for 12 months straight? And I'll say, I've heard from many of these people over the years and universally, they have this experience that you're having.

But something that certainly helps is again thinking with recipes and different ways to prepare things. So you go with maybe an Asian kind of style for a while until you get sick of that. And then now you move over to a Mediterranean style and then you move over to a Mexican style or whatever. And then maybe by the time you're done with the Mexican style, the Asian is actually appealing again. So you go back to the Asian and you can more or less repeat that forever. I mean, that's basically the universal experience. Yeah, that's what I found out. And then there's some that you just really like. You go, I really like this. This is like my go-to. Every other week I have to have this at least once.

That's true. That's true and you never get sick of it. Never get sick of it. It's like, yeah, I will always have that. It's like the sex equivalent of food. It's one of the few things that you can never get sick of. There are certain foods that are just like that. Oh, yeah. I'm having this and it's like, did you have it last week? Yeah I mean, I'm having this. And it's like, did you have it last week? Yeah, well, maybe this week too. Yeah, and haven't you had it every week

for like the last four years? And you're like, yes, and I'm having it again. What about cardio? So you were lifting five days a week. Were you doing cardio in addition to that? Initially, I was doing it, I think I was doing it 3 days a week. And it was 30 minutes on a treadmill at like an 8% incline at about 4.5 miles an hour, which that was pretty good

workout. And as the weight started coming off, then we went to 2 days a week and then 1 day a week and then it just stopped when I got into where I was like, I got to put some weight back on. And now every once a while, I'll just get on the treadmill and decide, okay, today's a good day. Do some cardio and just do it. And it's... I like it. I mean, I'm not somebody that's going to run. And I find like an elliptical, I think that's boring. So I like, well, I like the treadmill with that incline. And it's also just a comment, finding what you like is a is a

big part of making this work for the long term. And this is kind of a theme in the diet, finding the foods that you like, finding the foods that you like for the specific meal. So, you know, I personally, yeah, I like oatmeal, but I actually kind of like it more at night as overnight oats. I prefer that personally over oatmeal in the morning for breakfast.

Cause I don't really like breakfast, right? So you find these things, this is the way that you like it and it fits the parameters of what's needed, great. And same thing with exercise. It's just to your point of cardio, does it, does it quote unquote make sense? Can you logically explain why you just like the treadmill and don't like the elliptical?

Probably not, but it doesn't really matter because you just like what you like and it works so you choose what you like. And the reason I'm saying that is a mistake that I've seen many people make over the years is not, and often it's because they're given the wrong parameters, it's too constrained. But when you understand that you have a lot of flexibility, that there are many things that are negotiable, only a few things are non-negotiable, that it's worthwhile to try

different things that meet the criteria to see what you really like. I generally tell people, don't settle for, whether we're talking about diet, don't settle for a meal plan that you don't really like. I would say don't even settle for a meal, a regular meal that you don't really like. Think about it and if you have to try different things, try different things, but it's worth that little bit of extra effort to get to what you like. And the same thing for exercise. Don't force yourself to go on the elliptical.

If you don't like it, try some other things and you found, hey, I actually like the treadmill. Great. Then let's stick with that. And the same thing would apply for weightlifting. It would apply for exercise choice. I mean, again, you can get down to the smallest details that you want to get to, but it's always worth considering. What do you like?

Yeah. With the treadmill, I feel like it was giving me more of a workout, you know, where you like, wow, you did something here. And it, I really like and there's a park around my area where it's almost exactly two miles around. You take the outside and there's hills and stuff. So in a nice day, you go, even though I do the treadmill or do you want to walk around that park twice, you go one way and then you go back the other way. So you're going up and down the hills differently. Because it's like, to be a half an hour or something on a treadmill, it's

a nice day. Let's go walk. And I mean, that I usually would have done because I work out Monday through Friday. That's like a weekend thing. Hey, it's a nice Saturday afternoon, go walk. And it just that dad helped a lot to with the losing weight because it's like an extra day an extra workout that you can enjoy. You find out that shreds the bounds. There's also some additional benefits of getting outside and being around nature. It's good for mental health as well.

Oh, yeah. I live in Western New York. I mean, we've had a beautiful summer. In fact, it's been beautiful today. It's a little off, but these last couple of weekends, it's been 80 degrees. Well, how'd you go? You know, golfing. Yeah, enjoy that while it lasts because you know what's coming. Yeah, it's coming. It's coming here. Another month from now, we'll be thinking about it.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. What about supplements? Did you take any supplements? Yeah, I took pulse and recharge. And then I also took Genesis. I liked that. And they work good. Interesting. So no protein powder. Not that you have to.

Oh, I have protein, too. Yeah, protein. Yeah. Because that's usually my way to get up to have protein too. Yeah, protein. Yeah, because that's usually my way to get up to the protein level, you know? Because right now I'm doing like 200 grams and you're always stuck at that like 150-ish and you need that, a protein shake or something.

So it doesn't, it's not every day, but it's probably like five days a week throwing a protein shake in like the afternoon or the evening or something, just to get my levels up and I really enjoy it. I hadn't really done that before and you see the benefits of it. I like it. Yeah, the convenience, similar to the factor, is that factor five? Is that the name of the company? I think so. Yeah.

It's so convenient. And I wanted to comment on that too. Somebody who works with me started doing that as well, just for the convenience. And they look at it and they go, I mean, this is, this is high quality food. And if it saves me time because I'm busy and I don't like to cook. Yeah, that's that. I mean, that's why he's doing it. And I just wanted to comment that that's also just similar to this

point of finding what you like and what what, again, there are there are parameters, you can't just do anything. If you like, you know, just eating hot dogs and drinking beer, then we're going to have to work on some, some other things that you might like. But that if that makes it easier, if the factor five, the pre prepared meals just makes it easier, if the factor five, the pre-prepared meals just makes it easier for you and makes it more enjoyable for you to get in your nutrition, then it's a good solution. Whereas other people who are faced with, okay, I don't want to,

I don't really like cooking. I don't, I mean, I have no interest in it and I don't want to take the time. And so therefore I'm going to just eat fast food, for example. That's one option. Or you can go, okay, let me look what's out there. Oh, look at this. Here's a company. They're going to make the food. They're going to send it to me.

I can just heat it up. It's exactly what I need. It's whole grains, it's vegetables, it's protein. Let me try that. Let me see if I like it. Now that's what I saw. And the biggest thing is that, you know, two minutes it's ready. It's, and it's not frozen.

It comes, it's refrigerated. So it's, I haven't had any problems with it at all. And it just, because I'm not a cook and I don't want to learn. And so it's easy for me. Just boom, pop it in. And the other supplements, so the protein powder, people understand it's convenient. You can't beat it for convenience.

It's high quality protein. And the other supplements, why do you like them? Why do you include those in your regimen? I think, well, the pulse and recharge, it definitely gave me some good gains. And I felt that helped a lot. The Genesis, it seems to give me more energy and also, like, it almost seems like you're thinking clearly or so.

I don't know. That's what I get out of it. I really like it. It was one of those things when the first time I took it, I had to get used to the taste a little bit, but this is pretty good. It's hard to make spirulina taste good. That's the problem, especially if you're using natural flavors,

they had to work for that. It's not bad though. But I see the benefits of this. More like mentally, you seem clear, a little more energy and it's such that with some of the benefits of it, it definitely would help. I don't know, is it detox or not?

Just anything that I could take like that, or hey, this could be benefit to my liver. You know, or at some point, you know, so I'd look out for it and like, I like it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that'd be spirulina, where most people listening probably know that any supplements that claim

to just help your body detox, that that's just kind of a red flag because that's not really how it works. However, can you take supplements to support your body's organs that detox support your liver, for example? Oh, yes, you can. And spirulina is an example. There's a lot of research on it. And it helps with liver function, particularly with heavy metals. But yeah, it's just the detox that that's one of those buzzwords you got to look out for yeah, and that and that showed up on my blood work when I had my physical because I was Because the weight and the alcohol and things I was it almost would say pre-diabetic

You know and then he would my doctor goes, you know You yeah, I could tell you're drinking more and you should because your liver functions are they're getting off a little. And then there's the last one he goes, these things are spot on. He goes, there was one I go, well, one of them is like you came back on my phone, it was said it was high. He goes, well, that's because of the blood pressure medicine, medicine, you're no longer going to take. He goes, that's why that one's off. He goes, that's on me. He goes, the rest of them, he goes, they're great. They're perfect. And he said they'd be perfect if you were 34 instead of 64. So they're perfect. You know? Okay. Is your doctor just as excited as you are? Yeah. Yeah. It blew his mind. And he was like, wow. And he goes, I got a lot of patients. He goes,

they'll never do it. He goes, they'll never do it. He goes, they'll never do it. He goes, they won't. They won't do it. He goes, I got people that are younger than you, 20 years younger than you come in here. And they're not going to make it to 64. I tell them that because you're, you got issues. And in my doctor, he's kind of a family friend. We know our families and stuff. I come from an Italian family where long job. My grandmother lived to be 96. They all lived into their 90s. He goes, you got the same genes. He goes, you just have to make sure you take care of yourself to get there. He goes, nothing wrong, you know, easily equal I can see you living into your 90s. And so that's another one of my goals, you know, hey, fear as long as I can.

Absolutely. And is that, I mean, that's all of our goals. And at probably at the point when you realize you actually are mortal, like once maybe you hit your 30s or maybe it's your 40s, and then you either implicitly or explicitly at least have the idea that, oh, actually, I would like to be here for a long time rather than just a good time, as they say. But now that you are on the other end of this transformation and are still going, which is what I want to ask about next, and you're seeing the results, you're seeing the blood work, is that, I mean, it has to be encouraging where you're looking

at it and you're saying, hey, look, here's real data that suggests that, yeah, I can be around until my 90s. It's not just a wish. And then your doctor is there looking at blood work, just not even knowing what to say, thinking this dude's gone in 10 years. There's no way this is happening. Yeah. You get to that point, and now I go, all right,

you put the work in, you got here. Now it's easy to stay there, because it's, you get to that point and now I go, all right, you put the work in, you got here. Now it's easy to stay there because it's become a lifestyle. And you know, I mean, I get up to like over 221, all right, you know, gotta get the cardio and stuff. But you don't wanna go back to that way you felt. It just, it's amazing. Absolutely amazing.

And so what are your goals now going forward? Have you shifted more into a kind of a maintenance mode or what are you looking to do? It's maintenance, yeah, which is why, then there's other goals. I thought, well, you know, you should work on your flexibility some, as you're getting older, you know, you need to work on that core.

My core is fairly strong, but it can be stronger. And so my next goal will be maintain the muscle mass that I have. Not really try to add anything. I still would work my legs fairly hard, but everything else, I'm just going to stay at this level. I'm not going to try to increase anything and keep my weight. But then improve my flexibility, strengthen my core, things like that, just to prevent... I don't have really issues with my back, but I don't want to have those. So it's like maintenance and still there's things I can improve.

I mean, you know, flexibility and things like that. So that's my next goal. That's good to work on, particularly as we get older. It's good to work on often because when we're younger, we're just naturally fairly flexible and we lose some of that flexibility as we get older. Now, training does produce, proper training, does produce good flexibility,

but only in certain ranges of motion and with certain joints. And there are things though that are not a part of regular training, like I've commented before. And this is something that I've been working on. I finally got it to something that's respectable, is if you think of the butterfly stretch and how that stretches your hip flexors,

just your hip muscles. And that's something that I never did consistently, even though I've been consistently doing various stretches for probably about 10 years, but it just not that. However, that motion is really not a part of proper, at least training for most men. You're usually not doing any AB duction or A-duction, for example, where you might get some of that stretch. You're not sitting down on the AB or A-duction machines, maybe like some women would for

training either the inner thighs, so to speak, or the glutes. And so that's something that my so to speak, or the glutes. And so that's something that my butterfly stretch was terrible when I started just a couple months ago. Well, I say terrible, I'm exaggerating. It was not very good, let's just put it that way. It should be better. And I've been working on that and what, because that was causing issues where my psoas muscles or other hip muscles were kind of deep core muscles were

tight. And then that was bothering my SI joint. And so by addressing that, for example, and finally now getting it to a more respectable place, oh, now my hip feels better, which was getting annoying for deadlifting where I stopped deadlifting. I mean, I could do like a single leg deadlift. I mean, I was doing different types of hip hinges, but a traditional deadlift just didn't feel right. And so that's just an example. There are a few of these stretches, again, where you think about if you're training correctly, you're going to maintain pretty good flexibility in certain areas. But if that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't going to be serious impairments in flexibility that can cause other issues.

Like weight lifting alone is not necessarily enough to maintain the level of flexibility. And specifically, it's just the range of motion that you want in your key joints and in the different planes of motion that they work in. And so that's my pitch for people to consider adding some stretching. I know it's not very fun. I do it at night when I'm reading to my son. I don't like just sitting there stretching, but all right, if I'm going to read to him,

then I'm going to do my little stretches. I'm going to do it anyway, right? Or if you're going to sit in front of the TV at night, then great, then you can do it then. I understand not wanting to take another 15, even if it's 15 minutes out of the day, I actually do understand to just sit down on the floor and do a stretching routine or certainly longer than that. But if you stack it onto something you're already doing, at least that's been an easy way for me

to be consistent with it. Yeah. I do some of that now around here just certain times during the day, just, you know, stretch and stuff. I don't really do it at the gym because it's more when I'm done, I'm out of there. And then I but yeah, at night, you know, you figure, all right, you can stretch a little here and stuff and certain things, but I need to get do it more. I've kind of let that part go.

Yeah. And again, if you think about if you you just look at, and Alyssa should be able to help you with this. If you look at, all right, you can kind of assess your current level of flexibility, just a basic, you can find these little tests online of basic flexibility for your key joints, different planes of motion. And probably what you'll find is because of your training, you're going to be pretty good with certain ones, and then you're going to be not so good with others. And it certainly makes sense, I think, to address the weaknesses with the stretching as opposed to getting even better, going from good to great on, let's say, touching your toes or something where you're already pretty good.

And can you get your palms down on the ground? No. So that you could spend time doing that or maybe you find that your quads are actually very tight and You could spend your time doing that well It makes more sense I think to work on the really tight quads when your hamstrings are already decent for example Yeah, that's that's my next thing flexibility That's coming. But then then just I still still going to maintain the program, lift five days

a week. It just pretty much, like I said, plateaued with the weights to where I'm not going to try to add that much more. Yep. And that also, that's the right way, I think, to program for maintenance is you want to, you don't want to lose strength. So you wouldn't want to drastically reduce your training weights and then maybe even maintain the same rep ranges where now your training weights are like warmups, right? However, if you're happy with where you're at

in terms of your muscularity and strength, then you just do exactly that. You keep your training weights where you're at and you keep your rep ranges where they're at. If you're feeling particularly strong and you think you can get an extra rep or two, all right, get the extra rep or two. And over time, that might actually

produce very slow progress. Your training weights may go up a little bit because what used to be a six rep max weight or an eight rep max weight is now a 10 or a 12. And you want to bump it down down but that's a slow process so generally your training weights are staying more or less the same maybe slowly up trending and you're doing the exercises that you like and your workouts are you know in the duration that you like and it feels almost it's interesting when when you've pushed hard for a while to make

progress it can feel a little bit odd to to make shift, but that is the right way to do it. Yeah, and then like I say, I have your book, so sometimes I had two programs with Alyssa, so I kind of do like a mix and match. Sometimes I go, well, why don't you swap this one in instead of that exercise? And then if I get to where I'm going, you need to like do something different with your

chest exercise throw a couple new things in there so I'll go to the book and I'll add something and I'll try those for a while and just to kind of get some variation. Yeah makes sense. All right final question has it helped your golf game? Yeah yeah yeah. I ask because I've played a lot of golf in the past and I know how frustrating it can be. I mean, I yeah, I if I could hit it straight, but I golfed with like my son and my nephews. Well, you hit it longer now. Yeah, well, I hit it longer. There's sometimes I can my law a long drive for me is like in the two 90s I can get them up there

usually I'm hitting 260 ish but and like I tell my nephews my son I uh my driver is like 16 years old they've got all the new ones like will you wait till I get to this this winter I'm getting a new one I go you wait because they drive it they're in this winter. I'm getting a new one. I go, you wait because they drive it. They're in the three hundreds. I go, I'm going to get you guys this week. This next year I go and I go to a guy. He's got a golf trade where he films you and stuff. First time I went, I was like, Whoa, but you start seeing it.

And so this winter it's got an indoor facility, even though it's like a 40 minute drive. I've joined to go there because I can hit balls in the winter. I mean, Western New York, you're not going to do anything. So that's my goal for this winter. I told myself, right now I'm in the... A good round for me is like the low 90s. That's a good round. I used to be like 120. So it's got down to there. And I want to get down into the low 80s. So that's shaved 10 strokes off. Yeah, that's a good goal. And that's that that's doable. Even getting into the 70s is technically doable. But it takes a lot of work. You got to be willing to commit the

time. It needs to become one of your number one priorities actually. Yep. Yeah. And I like it, but I have friends that are, they're on the course every day. I mean, it's a routine. They're there for hours. They practice and they practice after. And it's like, I know I like it but I'm not that. I can't do it every day. I got other things going on. Yeah, I understand. Well, that was all the questions that I had. Is there anything else that I should have asked or anything else you'd like to share to everybody listening before we wrap up? I don't know. I think we've got a weird

thing. I mean, I'm really happy with the program. I definitely recommend it to anybody. I mean, it's like anything else. You've got to want to do it. And I think some of it is when you pay the money to get the training, you're paying for something. Take advantage of it. Do it the way it's supposed to be. I mean, how many people have a gym membership that they don't ever use? That's, I mean, that's the entire business model. That's what they need. Yeah, that is the business. I had a friend at gym, he goes, he goes, everybody signs up after the first of the year, I see them for two months and then they pay all year.

They're not here in the summertime. That's the exact business model. I see it like the Planet Fitness, until you get to about May around here, it's busy. And now, well, I was starting to pick it back up now as we got back out of the summer, but in summer months, nobody's in there. They go up there at noon, there might be three people in the place. Which you appreciate. You appreciate that that's the business model

because if 80% of people were showing up, then it would now be a broken broken business model all of a sudden prices would you know they would have to raise them five times just to keep the membership at a viable level you know yeah they got money coming in people that the people don't it's still coming out of their account they don't even realize that's that's true well this was a great discussion, Michael. Thank you.

Keep up the good work. Great story. Thank you. Every day, your biology is changing. It's getting stronger or weaker, faster or slower, healthier or sicker. And the driving factor behind these changes is not your genes or your environment or even your age.

It's your lifestyle, how you eat, how you exercise, how you sleep, how you supplement, and not just how, but how often, because what you do every day is far more important than what you do every so often. That's why I just released a new book called Stronger Than Yesterday, which is available right now over on Amazon, and which is a daily reader with 169 short and insightful chapters that give straightforward and practical answers to perhaps the two hottest questions in fitness.

One, how do I look great? And two, how do I feel great as well? In short, Stronger than Yesterday is a book that you can dip into every day for a morsel of education, a spark of encouragement, or a moment of joy. And by doing just that, by reading and applying just a few daily pages, you can gradually upgrade your mindset, diet, exercise, supplementation, rest, recovery, stress management, and more. So again, the book is called Stronger Than Yesterday. It's available right now on Amazon. And I'd be honored if you got a copy, gave it a read and gave me some feedback. Well, I hope you liked this episode. I hope you found it helpful.

And if you did subscribe to the show because it makes sure that you don't miss new episodes. And it also helps me because it increases the rankings of the show a little bit which of course then makes it a little bit more easily found by other people who may like it just as much as you 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 muscle for life comm muscle For life comm 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