Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Q&A: Rest-Pause Training, “Plant Deniers,” Casein Benefits, and More

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, lovely listener. I'm Mike Matthews, and this is Muscle for Life. Thank you for joining me today for another Q&A, where I answer questions that people ask me. So what I do is every week, every Monday, Tuesday, usually on Instagram, at Muscle for Life Fitness, come follow me. I put up a story asking for questions. I get a bunch of questions and then I choose ones that are interesting or topical or that I just haven't answered a billion times already and answer them briefly there on Instagram and then bring everything over here to the podcast and answer the questions in more depth because I can only put so much information in a little Instagram story. So if you want to ask me questions, follow me on Instagram at Muscle Life Fitness and look for that story that I put up every Monday or Tuesday

Starting point is 00:00:53 and submit your questions and we will go from there. All right. So in today's episode, I am answering questions about cool sculpting for fat loss. Does it work? My favorite shoes for weightlifting. If eating casein protein before bed can help with weight loss. If rest pause training is worth incorporating in your routine. How much protein your body can absorb in one sitting and more.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Before we get to it, how would you like a free meal planning tool that figures out your calories, your macros, even your micros, and then allows you to create 100% custom meal plans for cutting, lean gaining, or maintaining in under five minutes? Well, all you got to do is go to buylegion.com slash meal plan, B-U-Y legion.com slash meal plan and download the tool. And if I may say, this tool really is fantastic. My team and I spent over six months on this thing, working with an Excel wizard and inferior versions of this are often sold for 50, 60, even a hundred dollars.

Starting point is 00:02:02 Or you have to download an app and pay every month or sign up for a weight loss service and pay every month, 10, 20, 40, 50, even $60 a month for what is essentially in this free tool. So if you are struggling to improve your body composition, if you are struggling to lose fat or gain muscle, the right meal plan can change everything. Dieting can go from feeling like running in the sand in a sandstorm to riding a bike on a breezy day down a hill. So again, if you want my free meal planning tool, go to buylegion.com slash meal plan, buylegion.com slash meal plan, enter your email address and you will get instant access. Okay. This time around, I don't have any information

Starting point is 00:02:51 here on who asked these questions. I think there was something wrong with Instagram at the time. Anyway, they are all going to be anonymous questions today. And the first one is cool sculpting for fat loss. Please tell me this is a joke. Now, if you haven't heard of cool sculpting, it is a technique that involves cold temperatures and suction to destroy fat cells. And it obviously sounds like a scam, but ironically, a few studies have shown that it can smooth out and remove small amounts of body fat that is directly beneath the skin. It can't help you lose large amounts of fat though, which is often how it is marketed and it's very expensive. And so it is not only hype. And if you want to learn more about it, just head over to legionathletics.com, search for cool sculpting, one word, and you'll find an article

Starting point is 00:03:46 that I wrote on it. I don't think I actually wrote that article. Somebody on my team wrote it, but you will find a good evidence-based article on it. All right, next question. Do you think there is any merit to Paul Saladino's carnivore slash animal-based diet claims? Unfortunately, Dino's carnivore slash animal based diet claims. Unfortunately, mostly nonsense and getting quackier and quackier because that is how you win in the game of getting attention online. You just say more and more outlandish things and more and more people pay attention and talk about all of the outlandish things that you are saying. And then you team up with other quacks saying outlandish things like liver King. For example, I saw that liver King and Paul Saladino are doing, I guess, little collaborations on Instagram saying outlandish

Starting point is 00:04:39 things together. And if you are good at that game and get at least a little bit lucky, you get a bunch of followers and admirers and customers. You make a lot of money. Now, if you want an evidence-based refutation of the carnivore diet and some of the major claims made to support it, head over to legionathletics.com, search for carnivore, and you'll find a long article I wrote with a lot of research linked, cited for all of my major claims against the major claims of the carnivore diet. And my recommendation regarding carnivore dieting, which is if you need to do an elimination diet, that is a great place to start. But if you don't, then I wouldn't recommend the carnivore diet. And if you're not sure what an elimination diet is,

Starting point is 00:05:32 make sure that you clarify that before you try the carnivore diet, because it is factually an elimination diet. All right. Next question. Favorite shoes for lifting. diet. All right, next question. Favorite shoes for lifting? I like something light and simple with a flat sole. Over the years, I've tried shoes from Innovate. I've tried New Balance. I remember liking their Minimus model for a while, and I currently just wear a pair of Zeros XERO. And I currently just wear a pair of Zeros X E R O. I'm not endorsed by that company, but they sent me shoes. I had the owner of the company on my podcast. He offered to send me some shoes. I don't remember the model that I chose. It's one of their simple, just kind of bare bones, minimalistic little training shoes and I've been wearing them for, I think it's like a couple of years now, and they still are fine. They haven't fallen apart. There's no obvious wear or tear, which is cool because I've done a lot of training in those shoes, a lot of deadlifting in those shoes. Now, as for squatting, I like a proper pair of weightlifting shoes. I use Adidas weightlifting shoes, but there are other good options out there.

Starting point is 00:06:45 And I actually have an episode coming on training shoes. It is an interview I did with a guy named Jake Bolle, who has a YouTube channel where he does reviews of training shoes, cross training shoes, running shoes, weightlifting shoes, all different types of shoes that you exercise in. And so if you want to learn more about finding the training shoes that are going to work best for you, if you care enough to learn a little bit about what goes into choosing good shoes to train in, to run in, to squat slash deadlift in, look for that episode. By the time this is up, Jake should be up within the next four to six weeks. I run fairly ahead on interviews, but it will be going up soon-ish. Okay, next question. Is

Starting point is 00:07:33 casein before bed good for weight loss? No, not in and of itself. Eating protein of any kind before bed is not going to directly help you lose weight. But of course, it's not going to hurt so long as your calories and your macros are calibrated properly. Some people do find that having a serving of protein and particularly a serving of slow digesting protein like casein later at night after dinner helps them avoid late night snacking on other stuff that can get in the way of your cutting simply because it's very tasty and has a lot of calories. And what they find is that final serving of protein at, let's say if dinner is at six or seven, the final serving of protein is at nine or 10. It just makes sure that they are not hungry

Starting point is 00:08:25 come bedtime and then rummaging around in the fridge to find something to eat. And one other benefit of having some protein before you go to bed, some slow digesting protein in particular, like casein or pea protein works as well, is more muscle growth over time. A couple of studies have shown this. It's not going to make a major difference, but it does appear to help because what it does is it gives your body some amino acids to work through while you are sleeping. And of course, your body's muscle building machinery requires amino acids to repair muscle, to grow muscle. And so if you eat dinner at say 6 p.m. and you have a serving of protein with that dinner, you are done processing that food by probably somewhere between 10 and 12, depending on what you ate. The larger the meal, the longer it takes. Also mixed meals,

Starting point is 00:09:25 you ate, the larger the meal, the longer it takes. Also mixed meals, meals with protein, carbs, and fat, for example, take longer to process than meals that just have protein or just protein and carbs or just carbs or just carbs and fat. What that means though is, let's say you are in bed until six or 7 a.m. And so from, let's say 12, from midnight to 6 to 7 a.m., your body cannot continue to repair or build muscle because it has finished processing the food that you ate at dinner. It has finished using the amino acids provided for muscle repair and muscle growth, and it's just waiting for the next serving of protein. Now, what is not true is not eating protein before bed can lead to muscle loss. That is not true. Your body's muscle building machinery is just going to idle, so to speak. Your body is not going to break down muscle to get amino acids because it doesn't have any. It just can't continue to repair and build muscle until it has amino acids. And so what happens when you have a serving 30 to

Starting point is 00:10:33 40 grams of a slow digesting protein right before you go to bed. So let's say you're going to bed at 10 p.m. That will give your body a few hours of amino acids to work with. It will take your body a few hours, probably somewhere between three and four hours to fully digest and process that 30 to 40 grams of casein or pea protein. So what you have done then is taken the downtime, so to speak, as far as muscle building goes, of six to seven hours and cut it in half. So for the first few hours of sleeping, then your body is able to continue working with those amino acids to keep creating new muscle proteins and repairing muscle proteins and so forth. And by the way, in case you didn't know, my sports nutrition company Legion has casein

Starting point is 00:11:26 protein, has micellar casein, which is the highest quality casein you can buy, and a plant protein as well, which is a combination of pea and rice protein. And we use that combination because they have complementary amino acid profiles. And when you combine those amino acid profiles, it actually looks pretty similar to whey protein. And that's why that combination of pea and rice protein is often referred to as the vegan's whey. And if you want to check those products out, you can find them over at legionathletics.com. All right. Next question is, is rest pause training good for your shoulders? All right. Next question is, is rest pause training good for your shoulders?

Starting point is 00:12:11 Yeah. Yeah. Rest pause training is a good technique. Generally, it's good for jacking up volume without putting a lot more stress on your joints. And it does work well for smaller muscle groups in particular. It works well for the shoulders. It works well for the biceps, the triceps. But I would not bother with that until you need to do a lot of volume to continue growing, until you need to do, let's say, more than 15 hard sets per major muscle group per week. And even then, I would personally first work up to probably about 15 to maybe 20. That's pretty high, but at least 15 hard sets, normal sets, just working sets for whatever muscle group. If we're talking about the shoulders, fine,

Starting point is 00:12:53 but could also be the biceps or the triceps. Some people will do rest pause with the calves as well. And so again, I would personally work up to a high amount of straight set volume, so to speak, before adding rest pause volume, because rest pause training is not necessarily more effective than just plain old, quote unquote, boring straight sets. It's just a way to get in extra volume without all of the structural stress that comes with straight sets. Okay, next question is, can you make more fun flavors of your plant protein, the same ones you do for whey? Yes. Yes, I can. And I am. Cinnamon Cereal Plant Plus is coming soon in the next month or two. I don't have the schedule right in front of me, but certainly this year.

Starting point is 00:13:45 And we will continue adding flavors to Plant Plus because it is becoming more and more popular. It's getting really good word of mouth and probably because we reformulated it a few months ago and now it tastes better. I thought it tasted pretty good before, but now it tastes really good. And especially compared to any other plant-based all natural protein powder out there. I challenge, challenge anyone to find a plant-based all natural protein powder that tastes better than my plant plus. Okay. Next question is another supplement question. Can you take recharge, which is my post-workout supplement with creatine and a couple of other ingredients, with your Pulse, that's my pre-workout supplement, or do you have to do Recharge after workout? So the best way to use those supplements and just pre- and post-workout

Starting point is 00:14:37 supplements in general is to just take the pre-workout before you train and take the post-workout after you train. And in the case of recharge, ideally after you train with some food. Next question, besides side raises, any other move for side delts? Well, if we're talking movement patterns, not really. We can kind of just raise our arms to the side if we want to train our side delts, but we don't have to only use dumbbells or train both of our arms at the same time. So with dumbbells, you can do your traditional side raise. You're holding two dumbbells, you raise them out to the side, or you can do single arm dumbbell side raises. And usually when you're doing that, you are holding on to something like one of the metal poles, for the lack of a better word, of a cable setup.

Starting point is 00:15:30 Right. So you are kind of hanging off of this pole at a slight incline and then you are holding the weight in the hand that's not hanging on to the pole. And then you are doing side raises so you can do it that way. You can do cable side raises, double or single arm. Cable is a nice variation because of the constant tension. Whereas with dumbbell side raises, it gets a lot harder as you are raising the weight. So you get a lot of tension at the top of each rep and then you get like no tension at the bottom. Another variation I like is a machine raise. And again, you can do double arm or single arm. Most gyms have a side raise machine. And one of the things I like about the machine is also that constant tension. All right, moving along here. Thought thoughts on the no vegetables and whole grains thinking any truth. I really don't like the plant avoidance movement, the plant deniers, if you will, because claiming that eating certain vegetables, certain plant foods, certain grains, or just

Starting point is 00:16:40 eating those things in general is unhealthy. I mean, that is Orwellian-level science denialism. It's like saying that exercise is bad for you. It really is. It's as ridiculous as saying that research shows that exercise is bad and you need to stop or that water is toxic unless it has been specially treated to be a certain pH or that energy balance is fake,

Starting point is 00:17:07 actually, like triangles and math. It's all just a social construct. So my point, of course, is eat your vegetables, eat four to six servings per day. The weight of the scientific evidence is tremendous and tremendously clear. The people who eat the most plant foods tend to live the longest. Now, it doesn't mean that you can't eat animal foods, of course. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat meat or other animal sources of protein or just other animal foods that you like. foods that you like, but most of your calories should be coming from relatively unprocessed, highly nutritious foods that incidentally come from plants. Next up we have, should I start cutting or build my metabolism first? Well, the best ways to build your metabolism are to build muscle and eat a lot of nutritious food, which is what you want to be doing when you

Starting point is 00:18:05 are cutting. So I would say do both. Now, that said, some people do claim that you should reverse diet before you cut. And by that, they mean just progressively eat more and more food, increasing your total daily calories by maybe 100 for a week or two weeks and then increasing by another 100, sometimes even smaller amounts, sometimes it's just 50 calories. And the story is that if you do that, you can speed up your metabolism without getting fatter or gaining any significant amount of fat. And then when you start cutting, it's going to be a lot easier because if you are a woman currently eating 2000 calories per day, let's say that's your maintenance level. And if you were to just start cutting right now, maybe you have to go down to 1500. If you want to be aggressive,

Starting point is 00:18:58 maybe 1700, if you want something in the middle calories per day, but if you were to go through the reverse dieting process, you could get that up to 3000 calories per day. And then you could cut on 2500 calories per day, 500 calories more than you are currently eating. Imagine that. Or if you really wanted to be aggressive, you could cut on 2000 calories per day. Your current diet could produce rapid fat loss. That's the pitch. And it sounds great. And I wish it worked like that,

Starting point is 00:19:34 but it doesn't. Instead, all that's going to happen is you're just going to get fatter and then you are going to have to cut for longer to reach your goal. Now, some people do gain less fat than others when they try this because they are the type of person who responds to overfeeding with more physical activity, often spontaneous physical activity that they are not even entirely aware of. There is a genetic component in this, whereas other people don't seem to naturally increase their physical activity levels when they're consistently in a calorie surplus. And so, of course, they gain fat faster than the people who tend to move around more when they eat more. But I will say that in my many years now of doing this, I have not come across a single person who responds so strongly to a caloric surplus that they spontaneously move around so much more that they are able to just slowly work their calories up without gaining fat. The only people I know who have successfully increased their daily calories significantly while preserving their body composition explicitly worked more movement into their lifestyle.

Starting point is 00:20:56 So they extended their workouts or they did more workouts, often cardio. They often added cardio to their routine or started to do more cardio than they were doing previously. And so then if you want to do that before you start cutting, because maybe right now you are not very active, maybe you are doing one, two or three strength training workouts per week, and you're looking at your calories and you look at the number you're going to have to eat to lose, let's say a pound of fat per week, and it is depressing because it's a small number, then sure, add some physical activity so you can eat more. And that generally makes cutting easier. Okay. Last question is how do you address off days when you're not motivated or productive at

Starting point is 00:21:45 work? I just accept them as inevitable. I mean, remember, even elite athletes have bad games where they're totally off form. And so I don't see any reason to be self-critical. I mean, even the greats are not always great. Often they're not even consistently great. They're often just great at being consistent. They always show up and they always put in the work. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's not so great, but even the not so great still moves the needle somewhat. And so usually I just focus on what I'm going to do the next day. I try to make sure that I don't have two bad days in a row. One bad day is try to make sure that I don't have two bad days in a row. One bad day is totally fine. There's no reason to have two bad days in a row, right?

Starting point is 00:22:30 Oh, and also I remind myself that even if every day could be perfectly productive, or let's just say highly productive, can't ever really achieve perfection, but close to perfect in terms of absolute results, it wouldn't look that different from, let's say, 80% of my days being really productive, 24 out of 30 days, really productive. It's kind of like dieting in that regard, right? Because if you can follow your meal plan well, not perfectly, just well for, let's say, 24 out of 30 days. So 80% consistency. And so long as on the other six days, you don't eat many thousands of calories more than you burn, you're going to do great. There's nothing you can't do with your body composition. If you can do that and get your strength training workouts in. And so then should you roast yourself on one

Starting point is 00:23:23 of those six off days? No, of course not. You might even want to plan them in. 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.

Starting point is 00:23:50 And if you didn't like something about this episode or about the show in general, or if you have ideas or suggestions or just feedback to share, shoot me an email, mike at muscleforlife.com, muscleforlife.com, and let me know what I could do better or just what your thoughts are about maybe what you'd like to see me do in the future. I read everything myself. I'm always looking for new ideas and constructive feedback. So thanks again for listening to this episode, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Q&A: Rest-Pause Training, “Plant Deniers,” Casein Benefits, and More

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.