Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - The Best of Muscle For Life: Right Ways to Deadlift, How Long to Get a Six-Pack, & the Unspoken Rule of Success

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

I’ve recorded hundreds of episodes of Muscle for Life on a huge variety of things related to health, fitness, and lifestyle, ranging from the basics of diet and exercise like energy and macronutrient balance and progressive overload and training frequency and volume to fads like the ketogenic and carnivore diet and collagen protein to more unfamiliar territories like body weight set point and fasted cardio. Some episodes resonate with my crowd more than others, but all of them contain at least a few key takeaways that just about anyone can benefit from (that’s what I tell myself at least). And as cool as that is, it poses a problem for you, my dear listener: Ain’t nobody got time for that. Well okay, some people do make the time to listen to most or even all of my podcasts, but my wizbang analytics tell me that while many listeners tune in on a regular basis, they don’t catch every installment of Muscle for Life and thus miss out on insights that could help them get a little better inside and outside the gym. People have also been saying they’d like me to do more shorter, multi-topic episodes, like my Q&As. And so I got an idea: how about a “best of” series of podcasts that contains a few of the most practical and compelling ideas, tips, and moments from my most popular episodes? This way, people who are new to the show can quickly determine if it’s for them or not, and those who enjoy what I’m doing but don’t have the time or inclination to listen to all of my stuff can still benefit from the discussions and find new episodes to listen to. So, in this installment of The Best of Muscle for Life, you’ll be hearing hand-picked morsels from three episodes: Mark Rippetoe on the Right (and Wrong) Ways to Deadlift How Long Does It Take to Get Six-Pack Abs? Motivation Monday: The #1 Unspoken Rule of Success And we’ll be starting with number one, Mark Rippetoe on the Right (and Wrong) Ways to Deadlift. Timestamps: 5:05 - Mark Rippetoe on the Right (and Wrong) Ways to Deadlift 11:33 - How Long Does It Take to Get Six-Pack Abs? 18:31 - Motivation Monday: The #1 Unspoken Rule of Success Mentioned on The Show: legionathletics.com/mark-rippetoe-deadlift/ legionathletics.com/how-long-six-pack-podcast/ https://legionathletics.com/motivation-monday-success-rule/ buylegion.com/mike Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

Hello, and welcome to the latest and greatest episode of Muscle for Life. I'm Mike Matthews, and thank you for joining me today. Now, I have recorded hundreds of episodes of Muscle for Life, and I've talked about a huge variety of things related to health, fitness, lifestyle, mindset, ranging from the basics of diet and exercise like energy and macronutrient balance and progressive overload and training frequency and volume to fads like the ketogenic and carnivore diet and collagen protein to more unfamiliar territories like body weight set point and fasted cardio. And some episodes resonate with my crowd more than others, but all of them contain at least a few key takeaways that just about anyone can

benefit from. At least that's what I tell myself. That's what helps me sit down in the chair every day and do this. And as cool as that is, it poses a problem for you, my dear listener, especially if you are new here. And that is, ain't nobody got time for that. We're talking about probably a thousand plus hours of content at this point. And while some people actually do make the time to listen to most or even all of my podcasts, my whizbang analytics tell me that while many listeners tune in on a regular basis, they don't catch every installment of Muscle for Life and thus they miss out on insights that could help them get even just a little bit better inside and outside the gym. Because if you just get a little bit better consistently enough, that can add up to big

results in the long run. And people have also been telling me that they would like me to do more shorter, multi-topic episodes like my Q&As and Says You episodes. And so I got an idea. How about a best of series of podcasts that contains a few of the most practical and compelling ideas, tips, and moments from my most popular episodes, going all the way back to the beginning. This way, people who are new in particular can quickly determine if this is the droid they're looking for, if this podcast is for them or not. And then those who are regulars and enjoy what I'm doing, but just don't have the time or inclination to listen to all of my stuff. And I do understand that. I don't take it personally. You can also then

benefit from the discussions and the episodes that you are not listening to in full. And you can also find new episodes to listen to without having to give an hour of your time to determine whether it was worth it or not. So here we are with the best of Muscle for Life. And in this episode, you will be hearing hand-picked morsels from three episodes. The first is an interview I did with the one and only, my favorite prickly Texan, Mark Ripito, on the right and wrong ways to deadlift. Then we're going to move on to a few key takeaways from a monologue I recorded called how long does it take to get six pack abs? And last it'll be another monologue, a motivational monologue called the number one unspoken rule

of success. Also, if you like what I am doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, definitely check out my sports nutrition company, Legion, which thanks to the support of many people like you is the leading brand of all natural sports supplements in the world. And we're on top because every ingredient and dose in every product is backed by peer-reviewed scientific research. Every formulation is 100% transparent. There are no proprietary blends, for example. And everything is naturally sweetened and flavored. So that means no artificial sweeteners, no artificial food dyes, which may not be as

dangerous as some people would have you believe. But there is good evidence to suggest that having many servings of artificial sweeteners in particular every day for long periods of time may not be the best for your health. So while you don't need pills, powders, and potions to get into great shape, and frankly, most of them are virtually useless, there are natural ingredients that can help you lose fat, build muscle, and get healthy faster, and you will find the best of them are virtually useless. There are natural ingredients that can help you lose fat, build muscle, and get healthy faster, and you will find the best of them in Legion's products. To check out everything we have to offer, including protein powders and bars, pre-workout

and post-workout supplements, fat burners, multivitamins, joint support, and more, head over to buylegion.com slash Mike. That's B-U-Y-L-E-G-I-O-N dot com slash Mike. And just to show you how much I appreciate my podcast, peeps, use the coupon code MFL at checkout and you will save 20% on your entire first order. All right, let's start with the featured highlights from Mark Ripito on the right and wrong ways to deadlift. What do you think about, I think of Martin Burkhan as an example of this, but there are other people that have a lot of rounding in their upper back when they pull. Have you seen Burkhan's pull? No, but I've seen Konstantinov's pull and he does the same thing. A lot of very good lifters have learned how to pull with that, with a certain degree or at least tolerate a certain degree of thoracic flexion. And the

reason for this is because it improves pulling mechanics quite substantially. It makes the pull easier. If you can come back at the top and actually lock the pull out at the top according to the rules and lift the chest out of that thoracic flexion. But doing it that way is there's a very good reason for doing it that way. shorten the spinal segment by putting a curve in it, shortening the effective length of the moment arm between the hip and the gravity vector, the barbell. The lever you have to operate to pull the bar is shorter. It does several other things. It extends the knees. Your knees are in a more open angle. Your hips are in a more open angle, while the range of motion of the bar belt remains the same, the pull off the floor starts in a much more mechanically advantageous position if you can do that. Now, we don't teach it that way because I'm not going to ever tell a

novice to pull with any position other than absolute spinal extension. Normal anatomical position is the safest way to load the spine. But if you're an 800-pound deadlifter, you've already made up your mind about that. It's our observation that a lot of people are naturally rather kyphotic and pull that way just as a matter of their default anatomical position. But if you can learn to not hurt yourself and pull with an upper back inflection, certainly not the lumbar, but the upper back inflection, it's to your mechanical advantage to do so. If you have got a double overhand hook grip,

you're probably at least as secure as you are with a, especially with practice, with an alternate grip. The problem with the alternate grip is that it produces, since it is two different positions of humeral rotation, it produces different amounts of tension in the lat. All right. Because the lat insertion is medial, anterior, and proximal. If you rotate one forearm and humerus out and you rotate the other one in, your lat is in a different position of stretch. And this may have something to do with the observed phenomenon of the bar drifting forward away from the supine site. It could have something to do with the observed phenomenon of the bar drifting forward away from the supine site. It could have something to do with bicep tension on that site.

What we do see is that almost every time, and without any exceptions that I'm familiar with, all bicep tendon injuries occur on the supine side of an alternate grip deadlift. So if you're, in fact, a buddy of mine, Andy Baker, my co-author in Practical Programming for Strength Training, third edition, and the co-author of The Barbell Prescription, just ruptured his distal bicep tendon a couple of weeks ago doing speed deadlifts, ruptured his supine side distally. It's hard to think of everything you need to think about when you're trying to do fast deadlifts off the floor. What about belts? What about a belt? Well, I've got a big, long article on belt mechanics that explains hoop tension and the primary function of the belt, which is to increase the function of the valsalva maneuver, your big held breath, to increase spinal stability. The increase in spinal stability enables you to lift more weight.

It does not shut down. And I know you've heard this too. Wearing a belt shuts down the abs. Who said that? Someone who's never deadlifted? Do you not understand that under a 600-pound deadlift, there aren't any muscles that are shut down? What is wrong with you? You know, the belt gives you something to push harder against.

you something to push harder against. Now, and if you're really interested in that argument, my article, The Belt and the Deadlift, is available on my website, startingstrength.com, under the articles section. But here's the critical point about the deadlift. In my opinion, and it's been my experience since I've been thinking about this a little bit harder for the past several years, I'm really of the opinion that very, very few people have any business deadlifting in a four-inch belt. I think a three-inch belt is a much more efficient belt for most people of normal height. Now, if you're 6'5", sure, four-inch belt's probably going to work for you because your waist is commensurately long. But for most people, a three-inch belt allows you to get a much better setup at the bottom start position of a deadlift than a four-inch belt. And the reason for that is the four-inch belt, it's so wide,

it touches you at the top of the hip flexors. This is a bit of inefficient proprioceptive feedback in that it may tell you, that contact may tell you that your low back is fully squeezed into the arch that we talked about earlier, when in fact it's not, when in fact it is a little bit still inflection. In other words, you don't want to have to fight the belt for an efficient start position. So, I mean, in that way, it could encourage poor form then if you weren't cognizant of what's going on. Absolutely. A three-inch belt is plenty of width for good support. All right.

Those are the snippets I wanted to share from that episode. And if you want to listen to the whole thing, it was published in June, at the end of June of 2018. So you can just go find it and check it out. All right, let's move on now to the featured bits from How Long Does It Take to Get Six-Pack Abs? How long does it take to get six-pack abs? Now let's start this discussion with some good news. The good news is that getting six-pack abs is far easier than many people would have you believe. You don't have to do a billion crunches, you don't have to do a billion hours of cardio, you don't have to swallow a billion handfuls of supplements, and you don't have to follow weird overly restrictive diets all you have to do

is lose belly fat lose enough belly fat until your abdominal and your core muscles are clearly visible and if you're like most people your core muscles are not going to be quite as developed as you'd like, unless you have a lot of weightlifting experience. And so if that's the case, you have to do a couple other steps. So the first step is you have to lose the belly fat. And then if you are not quite happy with how your core looks when you are lean enough, you then should be doing a lot of compound weightlifting, heavy compound weightlifting in particular, and doing the right core exercises. So now let's get to the real point of this video podcast, and that is answering the question, how long will it take you to get six pack abs? And depending on your body composition, it may take anywhere from eight weeks up to 52 weeks. And to show you exactly why that is and

help you get an accurate estimate of how long it is going to take you, I am going to put an image up on the screen that you can also download by clicking the link in the description below. And if you are listening to this podcast, head over to muscleforlife.com and search for six pack abs and look for an article titled, how long does it take to get six pack abs? I believe that's the title, something like that. And you will find this image in that article. Again, you can download it and follow along with my instructions, which I will give just explaining what this image is showing and how to use it to find out how long it's going to take you to get six pack abs.

Okay. So this chart assumes that you are going to be losing about one pound of fat per week. That is healthy and safe and relatively easy and straightforward for everyone to accomplish. and safe and relatively easy and straightforward for everyone to accomplish. So with that assumption, here's how to use the chart. So the first thing is you want to locate the column, the vertical division at the top with your current body fat percentage. Now, if you are not sure what your body fat percentage currently is, head over to Muscle for Life or Legion Athletics and search for body fat percentage. And you will find an article I wrote on how to do that. Okay. So step two, if you are a woman, you want to follow the column down until you hit an orange cell. And if you're a man, you follow that column down until you hit a yellow cell. Then trace that row, the horizontal division on the chart, to the left-hand margin and look at

the number. And that is approximately how many weeks it will take you to get six-pack abs. Now, one other thing we should touch on briefly, if we are going to talk six packs is stubborn fat. You have probably heard about stubborn fat in connection with, you know, belly fat and getting six pack abs. And there is some truth to that. Some fat stores in your body are harder to get rid of than others. And for guys in particular, it does tend to be in the abdominal region, particularly in the lower abdominal region. And for women, it's usually more hips, thighs, and butt. There are physiological reasons for this. I won't go into them here because I have written about and discussed them in detail elsewhere. If you

are interested in that, if you search my podcast feed, I'm sure if search for stubborn fat, I'm almost positive I've recorded at least one episode, if not more than one on the subject. And if you want to read, head over to Most of Life or Legion Athletics and search for stubborn fat because I've written articles on both of those sites about it. The bottom line though, what you need to know is that there is nothing particularly special about getting rid of stubborn fat. There are a couple supplements that can help, sinephrine, yohimbine, caffeine as well. Caffeine can just help you lose fat faster, period. But when you combine it with sinephrine and yohimbine, they can work together to accelerate stubborn fat loss.

But in the end, all you really need to do is just keep getting leaner and keep trusting the process, so to speak. So in the beginning, you are going to be a bit dismayed when you are cutting because you're going to see certain parts of your body that you probably care a bit less about aesthetically. You're going to see those getting lean very quickly while the parts that you do care more about are going to seem to not change at all. So for us guys, for example, especially in the beginning of a cut, we are going to see our arms, our shoulders, our chests, our legs, sometimes our faces get noticeably leaner week after week, especially if we're taking pictures, get noticeably leaner week after week, especially if we're taking pictures,

but our abs are more or less looking the same and this can be discouraging. And for women, it's usually similar areas. It's usually upper body getting lean first and the lower body not changing much. Again, just know that if you keep going, you will get rid of the fat that you want to get rid of the most. It just takes its sweet time. The fat stores that are easiest to mobilize and burn are the ones that go first and the ones that are more stubborn, more resistant to your bodies. It's really resistant to chemicals that mobilize fat so it can be burned. They do eventually give way. It just can take time. And that's it for the highlight reel from how long does it take to get six pack abs. And if your interest has been piqued and you want to learn more about it and hear the whole episode,

it was published in January of 2019, so you can go find it and listen to it. If you like what I'm doing here on the podcast and elsewhere, definitely check out my sports nutrition company, Legion, which thanks to the support of many people like you is the leading brand of all natural sports supplements in the world. Let's move on to the third episode featured in this episode, and that is a motivational monologue called the number one unspoken rule of success. I've asked a lot of very successful people that I've met throughout my life how they did it. Some of them regaled me with stories about their brilliant strategic moves and uncanny intuitions and

superhuman endurance and so on. But the truly great ones, especially the people that I've known that have had repeated successes, not one hit wonders, not people who just were at the right place at the right time and who simply caught a big wave, but people who achieved great things multiple times and usually in multiple different arenas, building different companies, creating different products and so forth. These people often had a much simpler and deeper explanation for why they were doing so well. They didn't attribute their success to just hard work like you might expect. Yes, of course, it takes hard work, but I think we know that hard work alone doesn't guarantee anything. We can look around us in every

direction and find people that work plenty hard, but don't have that much to show for it. These people didn't chalk their success up to extraordinary luck either. Sure, there often was serendipity, but there were also plenty of difficulties and misfortunes and often great misfortunes that almost took them down. So if it's not hard work or luck, what is it? Well, these people said that there was one primary factor that made all the difference in their journeys. And it's something that a guy named Albert Ian Gray actually wrote about decades ago in an essay called The Common Denominator of Success. I believe that's the name of it. You can Google it to check it out. But it's simply this. It is the habit of doing the things that other people

simply don't want to do. You know, the things that most of us instinctively dislike that go against our natural preferences and our natural prejudices, the hard things, the uncomfortable things, the complicated things, the unexciting things, the exhausting things. These very successful people that I've known, they did these things. They did them all. They did them every day. They did them every week, every month, every year without fail. And in many cases, they didn't necessarily learn to like these things. They just had a strong enough purpose to ignore their feelings and do them anyway. These people just cared more about achieving satisfactory results than doing things they innately liked to do. Learn to do the things that failures don't

like to do. Because once we can do that, we can do a lot more than build a great body. We can build a great life as well. One of the reasons I wanted to share this message is because it accounts for a lot of my own success as a writer and entrepreneur. My life is far less glorious than you might think if all you heard were big numbers, if all you heard were Legion doing millions of dollars of sales per year and selling hundreds of thousands of books per year and getting millions of visits to the websites per year and so forth. Like, yeah, that all sounds good and it is good. And yes, it is satisfying. But what does it take to create all that, though?

And what does it take to continue to create that and continue to keep things going in the right direction? it take to continue to create that and continue to keep things going in the right direction? Well, part of it is doing a lot of work that many people don't want to do. I was reading an article in, I think it was Inc. or Entrepreneur, one of these magazines, and they were talking about a survey that was done with everyday people as to their opinions on CEOs in particular. And what they found is that many normal everyday people thought that CEOs don't really do anything, that they just kind of sit around and shop for new things online and tell their assistants to do personal errands for them and just kick their feet up, have a good time, make 500 times as much money as the average lower echelon worker in their business, head out early most days to the country club to hang out with other rich white people and so on.

And the reality is so, so different. Even in the corporate world, it is not like that. Corporate CEOs are some of the hardest working people that you'd ever want to meet and also have to carry tremendous amounts of responsibility and play some pretty high stakes games that are very unforgiving. If you mess up badly enough in that world, you may not get a job again for a very long time. Truth be told, building a business isn't that interesting to me. It's not something that I feel all that drawn to personally. What I most like to do is research, write, and record podcasts and videos. I like to create content. I like to research and create content. And beyond that, I also really enjoy and am interested in marketing

and persuasion. The psychology of it is just very interesting to me and the application of it is fun, but that's about it. Everything else that I do is in service of a greater purpose than my own desires and my feelings. And I really don't think that's going to change. And I'm okay with that. We can liken it to the gym, right? Some of our workouts, some of the stuff that we do in the gym, not very enjoyable, but we do it anyway because we are more interested in what we get out of it in the long run, in the bigger picture than how it makes us feel in the moment. And you can apply that lesson really to any activity or any endeavor in life. I think really any area of life. I really do believe that if you want extraordinary results in anything that you are putting your time and attention into, a large part of that

is going to be simply forcing yourself to do things that you don't really want to do, but that move the needle, that really get you closer to your goal. All right, that's it for the preview of the number one unspoken rule of success. And if you want to listen to the whole episode, it was published in July of 2018. And that's it for this episode. That's it for this installment of the best of muscle for life. Thanks again for joining me today and make sure to tune in tomorrow for another Q and a, where I'm going to be talking about neck training, trainer certifications. Are they worth getting? which ones are better than others, and unilateral versus bilateral exercises. Please leave a quick review for the podcast on iTunes or wherever you are listening from, because those reviews not only convince people that they should check out the show,

they also increase the search visibility and help more people find their way to me and to the podcast and learn how to build their best body ever as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and whatever app you're using to listen and you will not miss out on any of the new stuff that I have coming. And last, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts. Let me know how you think I could do this better. I read every email myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. All right. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon.