Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Motivation Monday: An Ode to the Gym

Episode Date: June 18, 2018

This episode is part of a weekly series that I have dubbed “Motivation Monday.” (Yes, I know, very creative of me. What can I say, I’m a genius…) Seriously though, the idea here is simple: Every Monday morning, I’m going to post a short and punchy episode that I hope gets you fired up to tackle the workouts, work, and everything else that you have planned for the week ahead. As we all know, it’s one thing to know what you want to do, but it’s something else altogether to actually make yourself do it, and I hope that this series gives you a jolt of inspiration, energy, and encouragement to get at it. So, if you like what you hear, then make sure to check back every Monday morning for the latest and greatest installment. Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

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 fat loss supplement, Phoenix. It has sold over 100,000 bottles in the last several years, and it helps you lose fat faster in three ways. One, it increases your metabolic rate. Two, it amplifies the power of fat-burning chemicals produced by your body. And three, it increases the feeling of fullness from food. In short, it speeds up your metabolism,

it helps your body burn fat more efficiently, and it helps you control hunger and cravings and maintain high energy levels. Phoenix also contains no artificial food dyes, fillers, or other unnecessary junk. And all that is why it has over 700 reviews on Amazon with a four-star average and another 250 reviews on Amazon with a four star average and another 250 reviews on my website with a four and a half star average. So if you want to burn more fat every day and have an easier time sticking to your diet without having to pump yourself full of harsh stimulants or potentially harmful chemicals, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Phoenix today. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout, and you will 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.lesionathletics.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. Alrighty, that is enough shameless

plugging for now at least. Let's get to the show. Hey there and welcome back to another episode of the Muscle Full Life Podcast. First, I apologize for the brief hiatus. I've just been swamped with work things and also traveling and my schedule has been kind of random, but we are now back on track. So let's get to today's Motivation Monday. As usual, let's start with a quote that has tickled my mind. And this one comes from Ernest Hemingway. And he said, the world breaks everyone. And afterward, many are strong at the broken places, but those that will not break, it kills.

And that's something that really resonates with me. I've experienced it several times now in my 34 years on earth, which by the way, I just turned 34 on June 13th. Happy birthday me. But what I've experienced is that no matter how smart and hardworking and tough you might be, or might think you are, the world will figure out ways to break you. And while some people experience more painful and debilitating breaks than others, we all get broken. And what really matters is what do we do about it?

What do we do to heal and come back stronger? And if you want to read more about that and learn from someone whose story really inspired me, check out Ray Dalio's book, Principles. really inspired me, check out Ray Dalio's book, Principles. And a major theme of that book is the process of progress whereby things get better and then get worse. And then you have to figure out why they're getting worse, learn the lesson, use it to make things go better again until they eventually go worse again. And then once again, you have to figure out why are they going badly, learn the lesson, apply the lesson. In the book, he has a diagram of how he likes to visualize progress as a series of upward loops. So you're moving up and then you're dipping, dipping, things are getting

worse, getting worse, you're going down. But if you handle that correctly, you can then loop back around and make things go better again until they start to go worse. And then you have to figure out why they're going worse and things are going down, going down. And if you do your job well, you loop back around and start doing better again and so forth. I really liked that visual analogy for progress because I think it is 100% spot on. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to

post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. A lot of people like to think or want to think or want to believe that success in any area of life or any endeavor is a fairly linear journey with some peaks and valleys, but on the whole, just a nice upward climb. And that is just not the case. It is messier than that and doesn't just have valleys, but has periods of regression and often despair when you're not sure if you're going to be able to get things moving in the right direction again. All that matters though, is that you do get things moving in the right direction again.

All that matters is in the end, what are you left with? What results did you produce? How hard it was to get there or how chaotic it was just doesn't matter in the end. Anyway, this isn't even today's episode. This is me just rambling. Today's Motivation Monday, the episode proper at least, is an excerpt from my upcoming book, which is called The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. It is going to be out in a couple months. I can't give the exact date yet because I got a proof from the printer and there were a couple things that need to be fixed. So assuming that they are fixed quickly, then the release date should be end of August, early September.

And I'll be posting some more content from the book over the next couple of months and will let you know when I have the release date locked in. So today's episode is called An Ode to the Gym. And again, it's a small excerpt from my next book, which I'm pretty excited about. I think you're going to really like it. If you like motivational material, then it will definitely be up your alley. So let's get to it here. The gym is a lot more than a place to move, grunt, and sweat. I think that it is a miniature cosmos of sorts where we can make contact with the deeper parts of ourselves, our convictions, our fears, our habits, our anxieties. It's an arena where we can confront

these opponents head-on and prove that we have what it takes to vanquish them. The gym is also a setting where we can test the assumptions we've made about ourselves and the stories underlying them. It calls on us to demonstrate how we respond to the greater struggles of life, like adversity, pain, insecurity, stress, weakness, and disadvantage. And in some ways, the gym asks us to show who we really are. gym asks us to show who we really are. And in this way, I think that it is a training and a testing ground for our bodies and minds and even our souls. The conflicts that we learn to endure in the gym empower us in our daily lives as well. The concentration, the discipline, the resilience that is required to build a great body are also required to build

a great life. And I really do think that if you can do one, you can do the other because the way to do anything is at bottom, the way to do everything. The gym also calls on us to constantly attempt new things and thus is also a source of learning. It's a forum where questions are at least as important as answers and it cultivates what scientists call a growth mindset by teaching us that our abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. And that is a worldview that is essential for great accomplishment in any area of our lives. The gym is practical as well, not idealistic. It's a laboratory that's open to any and all ideas and methodologies, and it gives very clear, very unqualified feedback. The ideas and methods either work or they don't. So in short,

the gym can be so much more than merely a place to work out. It can be a refuge from the chaos around us. It can be a world of our own that we create to satisfy our most personal and our most primal dreams and desires. And all this is why the gym can give us so much more than just muscle and strength. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness 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 mike at muscleforlife.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 fat loss supplement, Phoenix. It has sold over 100,000 bottles in the

last several years, and it helps you lose fat faster in three ways. One, it increases your metabolic rate. Two, it amplifies the power of fat burning chemicals produced by your body. And three, it increases the feeling of fullness from food. In short, it speeds up your metabolism. It helps your body burn fat more efficiently. And it helps you control hunger and cravings and maintain high energy levels. Phoenix also contains no artificial food dyes, fillers, or other unnecessary junk. And all that is why it has over 700 reviews on Amazon with a four star average and another 250

reviews on my website with a four and a half star average. So if you want to burn more fat every day and have an easier time sticking to your diet without having to pump yourself full of harsh stimulants or potentially harmful chemicals, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and pick up a bottle of Phoenix today. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout and you will 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. 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.