Can you successfully cut without counting calories or macros? What are my thoughts on intermittent fasting? Is MSG bad for you? How do you gain strength without size? What’s a reasonable amount of “incompete” protein in your diet? Should you eat fewer calories on rest days? All that and more in this Q&A podcast.

This podcast is a Q&A, but it’s a bit different from the kind you’ll typically find here on Muscle For Life.

In my usual Q&A episodes, I take a question from email or Instagram and then fully answer it in an episode of the podcast every week.

However, over on Instagram, I’ve started doing weekly Q&As in the stories, and it occurred to me that many podcast listeners might enjoy hearing these questions and my short answers. So, instead of talking about one thing in an episode, I’m going to cover a variety of questions. And keep in mind some of these questions are just for fun. :)

So if you want to ask me questions in my Instagram stories, follow me on Instagram (@muscleforlifefitness), and if I answer your question there, it might just make it onto an episode of the podcast!

If you like this type of episode, let me know. Send me an email (mike@muscleforlife.com) or direct message me on Instagram. And if you don’t like it, let me know that too or how you think it could be better.

---

Timestamps:

0:00 - Find the Perfect Strength Training Program for You: www.muscleforlife.show/trainingquiz

2:13 - Is it possible to go from 16% to 10% body fat without counting macros ? 

3:26 - Should we weigh food raw? Does that apply to every food? 

3:57 - Favorite overhead tricep movement? 

4:04 - Should I separate my cardio sessions from weights? Can I just do cardio after lifting? 

4:46 - What are your plans for the recession now that we are through COVID? 

5:53 - My form is better with 6-8 reps. Is that still a good rep range for compound lifts? 

6:59 - What are your thoughts on intermittent fasting? 

7:36 - What is your favorite Whey+ and Pulse flavor? 

8:01 - Of total daily protein intake, what do you consider an acceptable amount from incomplete protein sources? 

8:53 - Is walking an effective way to lose weight? 

9:17 - Do I have to eat less calories on rest days, as my total daily expenditure would be lower? 

11:21 - You usually preach 4-6 reps for gaining strength, are you just adding size now? 

14:29 - How can I gain strength without size? 

15:13 - Best non fitness book you’ve read recently? 

16:18 - How bad is MSG for you actually? 

17:13 - Would you rather be stuck in an elevator with a tarot reader or a flat earther? 

17:45 - I’m a forty year old woman who has never strength trained. Is it too late to gain muscle and strength? 

---

Mentioned on the Show:

Find the Perfect Strength Training Program for You in Just 60 Seconds: http://www.muscleforlife.show/trainingquiz

Cutting Without Counting Macros, “Incomplete” Proteins, Intermittent Fasting, Rep Ranges, and More

This book will show you how to build muscle, lose fat, and get strong: goo.gl/lKNKWK

In this episode I interview John Romaniello, author of the NYT bestseller Engineering the Alpha and founder of the multi-million dollar, multifaceted fitness business Roman Fitness Systems.

We’re not going to talk fitness or business, though.

Instead, we linked up to discuss something else altogether, and that’s how you and I can use the brilliant and groundbreaking work of a rather obscure comparative mythologist to live better lives.

The work is codified in the book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which was written by the mythologist Joseph Campbell, and it has served as a template for some of the most popular and timeless stories ever told, ranging from King Arthur to Moby Dick to Star Wars, Harry Potter, and more.

I know that sounds incredibly abstract and inapplicable to our lives, but bear with me because John does an amazing job making the material accessible and practical, so I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.

It’s really not a stretch to say that our conversation can be the nudge that leads to incredibly positive changes in your life.

5:30 - Natural progression of fitness to self improvement in life.
20:41 - Why does life mirror a hero's journey and how it fits into changes of life
36:34 - Why you need a mentor in life how to get one.
49:13- This is your call to adventure to change your life.

RELATED TO THIS PODCAST

The Writer’s Journey:

www.amazon.com/Writers-Journey-M…6X/?tag=mflweb-20

The Hero With a Thousand Faces:

www.amazon.com/Thousand-Faces-Co…36/?tag=mflweb-20

Neil Gaiman’s Epic “Make Good Art” Speech:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikAb-NYkseI

The Hero's Journey graphic:

www.thewritersjourney.com/graphictwo.gif

NYT bestselling author John Romaniello on living our hero's journey

This book will show you how to build muscle, lose fat, and get strong: goo.gl/lKNKWK

This is the second part of a two-part interview with the always enlightening and entertaining Mark Rippetoe, who you’ve probably heard of if you take fitness seriously.

In case you don’t know who Mark is, though, he was a competitive powerlifter for a decade and is the author of several books, including two classics that everyone that’s into weightlifting should read–Starting Strength and Practical Programming for Strength.

Mark has also coached thousands of people all over the country on proper barbell training through his seminars, which you can learn more about at www.startingstrength.com.

He’s also just a fun guy to chat with because he’s colorful and just shares his thoughts and openly and isn’t one for euphemisms or minced words, which I think is refreshing, really.

So, in this interview Mark and I talk about training for sports and why a lot of what goes on in the upper echelons of sports training is nonsensical and even counterproductive and what athletes should be focusing on instead.

I’ve run into a fair amount of this just working with people because I’ve heard from quite a few high-level college athletes and some professionals as well that were a bit perplexed by the types of things their strength trainers were having them do (as well as the things the trainers would leave out).

I helped many of them simplify their routines and straighten things out and, one for one, they were amazed at how much of a difference in made in their respective sports.

So, if you have any desire to be a better athlete, I think you’ll like the interview. Here it is...

5:30 - How athletes should tailor their training for their profession and what they do wrong.

11:47 - Do top athletes perform well because of their training programs, or in spite of them?

22:10 - How trainers who only deal with high-level athletes can get away with not knowing their profession.

33:28 - Why any training will give results to an un-trained individual vs. optimized training.

ARTICLES RELATED TO THIS PODCAST:

Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training: 
www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength…rue&tag=mflweb-20

Practical Programming for Strength Training: www.amazon.com/Practical-Program…54/?tag=mflweb-20

How to Make Meal Plans That Work For Any Diet: legionathletics.com/diet-meal-plans/

How to Create the Ultimate Muscle Building Workout:
www.muscleforlife.com/muscle-building-workout/

WORKOUT SUPPLEMENTS THAT REALLY WORK: legionathletics.com

MY WEBSITE: www.muscleforlife.com/

MY FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/muscleforlifefitness

MY TWITTER: twitter.com/muscleforlife

MY INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/muscleforlifefitness/

Mark Rippetoe on the good, bad and ugly of sport training

While there are many ways to thrive in many sectors of today’s modern economy, there’s no arguing that it’s getting harder and harder to identify and capitalize on these opportunities.

Robots and AI are eliminating jobs, globalization and the democratization of high-quality education is expanding the talent pool, and customers are becoming more selective, sophisticated, and stipulating.

To overcome these obstacles, we’re often told to specialize—to focus all of our energies, efforts, and resources on becoming really good at one thing to the exclusion of all else.

This isn’t entirely wrongheaded, but for most people, it isn’t likely to lead to long-term success and fulfillment but disappointment, burnout, and failure, instead.

This extends beyond merely moneymaking too, and applies to just about every endeavor you could want to undertake. The reign of the hyperspecialist is coming to an end and the rise of the skilled generalist is at hand.

What does that mean, exactly?

Well, as the author of the book How to Be Better at (Almost) Everything, Pat Flynn, shares in this episode, generalism refers to acquiring a variety of know-hows and abilities, and he argues this is a smarter and more practical approach to winning in today’s world.

Generalism, Pat explains, is one of the keys to making more money, getting in better shape, and becoming more successful, effective, and happy in every aspect of your life, and his personal approach to generalism starts with developing skills that’ll serve you well no matter where the red thread of fate takes you—meta-skills as Pat refers to them.

6:12 - What do you mean by generalism? 
11:52 - How does generalism make us more money than specifism? 
29:58 - What are some examples of metaskills and force multiplier skills? 
32:33 - What are some of the myths and mistakes of logic and reason? 
39:51 - What are more examples of metaskills and force multiplier skills?
46:36 - What are your tips to improve focus? 
50:51 - What is the name of your book and where can people find you and your work?

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/

Pat Flynn on the Life-Changing Benefits of Generalism

Hey! My name is Mike Matthews and I'm a bestselling health and fitness author, and creator of MuscleForLife.com. My mission is to empower people to take control of their health and fitness by following a healthy, enjoyable lifestyle that not only gives them the body they've always wanted, but enables them to live a long, vital, disease-free life.

Cutting Without Counting Macros, “Incomplete” Proteins, Intermittent Fasting, Rep Ranges, and More

Muscle for Life

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