[00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to muscle for life. I am Mike Matthews. Thank you for joining me today for a Q and a episode number 68 that I have recorded where I answer questions that people ask me over on Instagram. So what I do is every couple of weeks, I put up a story asking for questions, people submit a bunch of questions.
I pick ones that are interesting or topical or new, unique, and I answer them briefly there on Instagram. And then I bring everything over here to the podcast and answer them in more depth and detail. And so if you want to ask me your questions, follow me on Instagram at Muscleful Life Fitness. Watch my stories.
See you Submit your questions and I will see them. I can’t answer most of course because I get a lot, but I do look at all questions and I do really try to pick the ones that I think my followers and my listeners and so forth will enjoy the most. And so today’s questions are all over the place per usual.
We have a question here [00:01:00] on the optimal rest times for different rep ranges. How to modify my Beyond Bigger, Leaner, Stronger program for cutting. How long you can stay in an aggressive calorie deficit before you start losing muscle. Some of the things that I think makes life better and makes life worth living.
How the quality of your diet can affect your injury risk and affect your ability to recover from your training. Before we commence with today’s episode, I need to tell you about the biggest sale of the year going on right now over at my sports nutrition company, Legion. So from now until December 4th over at buylegion.
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Andy Frauda asks, What’s your rest period when doing sets of 6 8 reps versus 4 6? So for six to eight, it’s usually about two and a half minutes on isolation exercises, maybe two minutes if I’m running out of time and three and a half minutes on compound exercises, three minutes if I’m running out of time and four to six, it’s going to be probably also two and a half minutes on isolation and then a little bit less on compounds, three minutes.
Because the higher rep sets on the compound exercises, especially when they’re taking close to failure, are more metabolically demanding. They’re more cardiovascularly demanding. And I like to take a little bit more time to recover from those versus the 4 6, especially with heart rate and breathing.
BigTim27 asks, BBLS, that’s Beyond Bigger, Linear, Stronger, a book I wrote, sequel to Bigger, [00:06:00] Linear, Stronger, with a different program, on a cut or make any changes? You can do Beyond Bigger, Linear, Stronger on a cut, but I would recommend reducing the total set volume by about one third. And my preference for BBLS when cutting would probably be the three day program, rather than an abbreviated five day program.
And then using those off days for cardio, I think that would produce the best and the fastest body composition results. Because if you are running BBLS, you are an experienced weightlifter, you are not new, so you know that you are not going to gain any muscle. Or strength to speak of while you’re cutting.
And unless you just really like being in the gym lifting weights, you want to use your weightlifting to preserve your muscle and strength, and then you want to use your cardio to accelerate the fat loss. So again, I think three days of intense lifting, which in the case of BBLS would reduce your total weekly volume by about one third [00:07:00] compared to the five day program.
That’s enough. That’s great for maintaining muscle and strength. And then you can use the extra exercise time that you’ve now opened up to do more cardio, which is going to be more effective per unit of time for you. burning fat. Charlie Omak Isaac asks, how long can I stay in an aggressive cut 50 percent of maintenance calories for muscle loss?
For men, you can do that until probably about 25 percent body fat, at which point you have to slow down. You have to shrink that deficit. Maybe to, let’s say, 75 percent of maintenance calories or you will start losing muscle when you have a lot of fat to lose, and this has been shown in research, you can aggressively cut calories and you can exercise and you can even gain muscle, especially if you’re new to weightlifting.
But again, As you get leaner, there is a point where you are going to start losing muscle if you are being too aggressive with your calorie restriction. And for [00:08:00] women, that cutoff is probably around 35 percent or so. So if a woman is above 35 percent body fat, And she feels up to eating, let’s say, 50 percent of maintenance calories.
Now, of course, it needs to be high protein. I would recommend getting as much carbohydrate in there as you can as well. Eating nutritious foods, filling foods, et cetera, et cetera. But again, if she’s over 35 percent and feels up to a very aggressive deficit, even if it’s just for a short period, maybe it’s for four weeks or so, She can do it, especially if there’s some strength training as well to also just prevent muscle loss.
Dennis Rathke one asks, Why do you personally train using BLS and not VBLS? So for probably about a year now, I’ve been doing the three day routine for BLS because it’s a great maintenance routine. It’s actually I would say maintenance plus, meaning that you still can make progress on the three day BLS routine if you are an experienced weightlifter and I have made [00:09:00] progress with a couple of muscle groups.
I’ve made progress with my quads that has been noticeable and I’ve made some progress in my poles and with my quads. I can see it in my training logs. So my numbers have gone up. My strength has gone up, but I can also just see it in my quads. My legs are just bigger now. And in my poles, I guess I haven’t been taking pictures of my back.
So I’m not sure how the visual has changed, but I have seen improvements in my numbers. It’s just slow and you have to know that because the weekly volume is 8 to 12 hard sets per major muscle group per week, which is enough to make progress, but probably just enough to make slow progress. And I have been at maintenance calories the entire time.
I haven’t intentionally been in a surplus for any extended period of time. Now, why BLS three day versus BBLS three day for maintenance? I guess a couple reasons. One, I was doing the five day [00:10:00] BBLS program for a couple of years and made good gains across the board. Hit PRs, all time PRs across the board and just wanted to change it up a bit.
And so went back to BLS. And also the BLS workouts are a little bit shorter than the BBLS workouts, probably by 20 minutes or so on average. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that just works better for me because I’m busy and I want to get my workouts in. I enjoy working out, but I really don’t want to be spending more time in the gym lifting weights than I need to, at least not right now.
I need to tell you about my best selling fitness book for women who want to lose up to 35 pounds of fat or more and gain whole body muscle definition in just three to five hours per week. And without giving up delicious foods or doing grueling. workouts. Now the book is called Thinner Leaner Stronger and while it cannot give you a toned Hollywood babe body in 30 days and it is not full of diet and exercise [00:11:00] hacks for gaining lean muscle and melting belly fat faster than a sneeze in a cyclone, it is a science based nutrition and exercise book that will demystify muscle building and fat loss and show you exactly how to get a lean strong and fit physique without spending hours in the gym every day and without giving up your favorite foods like hamburgers or pizza even ice cream And the kicker, you will see visible results in the mirror and in the gym in just your first month on the program that comes with the book.
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Cardio can help, and cardio is healthy, but you don’t have to do it to get into great shape. And those are just a few of the harmful lies and myths that keep women weak and overweight and confused. And in my book, Thinner Leaner Stronger, you will learn something that most of those women unfortunately will probably never know.
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And Fitter, Leaner, Stronger will show you how. So [00:14:00] head over to Amazon, get your copy now, and start your journey to a fitter, leaner, and stronger you. Diego from the Sierra asks, what is the ideal sodium to potassium ratio in natural bodybuilding? They say reach one to one. Yeah, I would say four to five grams of each per day is reasonable for people who are sweating a fair amount.
If somebody is not exercising much, not sweating much, they probably don’t need four grams of sodium per day. They probably could cut that in half and be fine. Something between two and three grams. per day, and the potassium could be at least two to three grams. Probably wouldn’t hurt them if they were getting up to four or five grams per day.
And to hit those numbers, by the way, you don’t need ripoff electrolyte supplements. Just so you know, you can just salt your food. Teaspoon of table salt has 2. 3 grams of sodium. And then for your potassium, you can eat potassium rich fruit and [00:15:00] vegetables. And you can also, if you need to, quote unquote supplement your potassium with a salt substitute that is potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride.
Now, if you are a regular listener, you know that I’ve dumped on electrolyte supplements many times. I don’t sell an electrolyte supplement my sports nutrition company Legion does not sell an electrolyte supplement, even though it is currently our number one most requested product from customers.
But a little update here is I am taking a new look at the electrolyte category, the electrolyte supplement to see if there is a legitimate use case because the market is big, but that’s not enough for me. At least I don’t sell products just because I can make money with them. They also need to have a solid scientific grounding.
And so far, my opinion has been that electrolyte supplements simply do not. And I’ve openly said I would love for people who disagree with me to reach out and share research, maybe [00:16:00] that I’m not aware of, or arguments that I haven’t thought of. And so far, I have had some people reach out, but it hasn’t changed my mind.
However, I have been working with the people I work with on formulations who know a lot more about supplements than I do, frankly, to look deeper into the existing literature to see if there is any valid use case for such a product. I already know that you cannot honestly sell an electrolyte supplement as necessary or even beneficial for everyone.
That’s just a flat out lie. However, we have drilled down to people who are doing longer intense workouts in high temperature environments, so they’re sweating a lot. And it’s possible that having an electrolyte supplement, having some sodium in particular is really what matters. Before or during those workouts may slightly improve performance, may slightly improve mood during the workouts, [00:17:00] may slightly reduce the perceived effort in those workouts.
It’s not clear yet. This discussion is ongoing and the review of the research is ongoing, but we may be able to make an argument that the sodium is going to help with water retention and there is good research on that. You could just call that better hydration, but I think that it’s helpful to be more specific.
We’re talking about better fluid retention. And so if that can help you stay better hydrated during these longer intense, very sweaty workouts, then you could expect certain benefits based on other good research on the effects of hydration and dehydration. However, the key question, and I don’t have an answer to this yet.
I just posed this question a day or two ago. Is how do the benefits of water before and during these workouts compare to water plus sodium? The benefits of just water, established. Now, if you add sodium, do you experience further benefits [00:18:00] because no matter what the mechanistic research says about sodium and quote unquote improving hydration, if it doesn’t produce any noticeable or meaningful benefits in reality, if adding sodium to that water that you’re drinking before or during The long, intense, sweaty workout doesn’t actually change anything that you can notice, then why bother, right?
Now, I know that electrolyte shillers are going to say, Wow, a lot of people who are into fitness and who eat well, they don’t eat enough sodium. So they can take the supplement to get enough sodium and that’s going to benefit them. No, that brings me back to the point I made previously. Just use table salt.
Save yourself money. And so then, if adding the sodium to the water before the workouts doesn’t really do anything, and if you should just use table salt to supplement your sodium intake if you are not getting enough sodium, you can just put sodium in water, for example. Again, a [00:19:00] teaspoon, 2. 3 grams of sodium.
You could just put a teaspoon in some water in the morning and drink it and realize that’s really all you’re getting with the electrolyte supplements. You’re just getting massively marked up overpriced flavored sodium with a little bit of potassium and a little bit of magnesium. And if you do that to make your water tasty, and that’s the main benefit is tasty water, then I suppose go ahead and spend the money, but I don’t think I can sell an electrolyte supplement simply as something to make your water tasty, not a great sales pitch.
Although, it might be funny if I were to do that, if I were to just summarize what I’ve explained here and in previous episodes and what I’ve written about, showing that these supplements are not going to do basically anything that these other companies claim unless you are not eating enough sodium.
And even then, there are [00:20:00] dubious claims that probably are also not true, even if you are going from inadequate to adequate sodium intake. However, if you refuse to salt your food, which is what I’d recommend, if you refuse to mix a little bit of salt into water, if you don’t want to salt your food, which is what I’d recommend, And you just want tasty water that also supplements your sodium intake, as well as your potassium, maybe magnesium.
Alright, here you go. I guess it’s worth considering, because it would be honest, at least, and people would probably find it amusing. At least some people would, because it’s not the sales pitch that You’re used to hearing and the product wouldn’t be harmful so long as someone isn’t massively overdosing with sodium.
And so maybe that’s where it’s going to go. We’ll see. Anyway, moving on. Linden Sep asks, What do you think makes life better slash worth living? Ten things. One, [00:21:00] lifting weights. Eating plants. Three, and yes, eating meat is okay, and I recommend eating meat as well, but most of your calories should actually be coming from plants, because that means fruits legumes.
And whole grains and so forth. Anyway, three, speaking less, listening more, four, getting enough sleep. Five, reading books, reading good books, reading hard books, reading books that challenge your thinking. Six, rejecting the current thing. Seven, doing work that matters to you. Eight, asking good questions. Nine, refusing to get offended, and ten, not parroting stuff you hear in the news.
Luke M81 asks, do belt squats still train core? Yes, they do. In fact, research shows that using a belt increases core activation, not decreases it. However, using a belt too often, so let’s say [00:22:00] if you are always using a belt, all hard sets of all your relevant compound lifts, like your squats, your deadlifts, your overhead presses, For too long.
So if you’re doing that all hard sets for many months, it’s not optimal because it can subtly lead to and train in worse form. And it can also mask growing problems. So for instance, if you can’t painlessly perform a big lift with a heavy amount of weight for you without a belt, something is wrong and you want to address that.
You don’t want to cover it up with the belt and just keep going. I’ve made that mistake myself. Marcus JB asks, can a poor diet contribute to injuries or inhibit recovery? For example, muscle slash tendon tears and strains. Yes, absolutely. And in several ways. One, higher levels of inflammation and oxidative stress in the body.
Two, impaired immunity, which increases the risk of illness. Three, nutritional [00:23:00] insufficiencies that impair many processes related to recovery and injury prevention. Four, worse sleep quality. And five, impaired muscle recovery if protein and or carbs are too low. So pay attention to your nutrition and pay attention to the micronutrients, not just the macro nutrients.
Mateo Tats asks, If I didn’t get optimal or okayish sleep, how should I train that day? Or sorry, should I train that day? So yes, you can train. In fact, research shows that physical activity for 25 to 65 minutes a day eliminates the increased mortality risk associated with poor sleep patterns like difficulty falling asleep, having sleep disturbances in the middle of the night, and long sleep.
So keep exercising, force yourself to do it. Mercifully and graciously loved asks, why should I buy the new legion vitamin C product? Sell me. Because if you don’t buy my stuff, I die. [00:24:00] Another question from the same person, best lifting belt. Personal preferences vary of course, but I really like the company pioneer.
I like their 10 millimeter single prong belt. And if you want a lever belt, insert forever. Lever is a great product. Moeen S. Smalley 92 asks for our body book, why pseudoscience is so successful in sales. So yes, for our body is full of pseudoscience. Don’t waste your time with it. And the reason why such books are so successful it’s a few things.
One, Humans find compelling narratives much more interesting and more persuasive than boring data and facts. And so if you only care about acquiring status and money, it’s much more important to become a great storyteller than a true expert, especially when you tell stories related to history and science, because those two things are especially persuasive [00:25:00] when combined with high quality storytelling.
Another reason why bullshit like the four hour body is so successful is humans love to imitate others So nothing succeeds like success the Matthew principle and so forth And finally there is the halo effect of his Celebrity and a lot of the work that he has done in the podcast space a lot of which has been good Pictures for my grandma asks how to get out of a funk and start getting up early, working out and get off my phone.
So I would recommend clearly formulating at least one goal that directly or indirectly is related to fitness and that excites you and then decide that not accomplishing it simply isn’t acceptable because that process is the only way anyone gets to anywhere worth getting to. Thank you. Peter G. Dewitt asks, Is an upper lower split five times a week too much with BLS?
No, [00:26:00] that can work, but I would recommend setting it up like this. So three upper or lower body workouts per week and then two of the other rather than a four one. I would also recommend alternating between the workouts in the following way if you’re training on weekdays. So day one would be upper or lower.
Day two would be the other that you did not do on day one. And then day three would be the same as day one. Day four would be the same as day two. And then day five would be the same as day three. And by same, same muscle groups, upper or lower. You may be doing different exercises in those workouts, and you probably should be, but again, same muscle groups.
And then if you are willing to train on the weekends, I would do it like this. So I would do day one, upper or lower. I would do day two, the other, I would do day three, rest day four, same as day one. Again, same muscle groups. Day 5, same as day 2. Day 6, same as day 4. And then day 7, I would rest. RSA Dog asks, Have you ever started a [00:27:00] workout, say push day, and had to leave?
Do you pick it up later? Yeah, that’s happened. It doesn’t happen often, but it has certainly happened. And it is totally fine to do two half workouts in a day if you have the time and inclination. Otherwise, you can do, let’s say, half of the workout that you got done, and then you could skip the other half.
Or do the missed half over the rest of your workouts by, for example, doing a few sets you missed at the end of subsequent workouts. That’s totally fine too. So let’s say you did half of your pull workout and now you have a lower body workout. And then at the end you’re just going to do three or four sets that you missed on your pull workout.
Totally fine. You can think of training volume like calorie intake in this way you can look at it over the course of a week rather than just an individual day because your weekly numbers matter more than your daily numbers with both calories and training volume. You just want to make sure that by the end of the week you are where more or less where you want to [00:28:00] be in terms of your calories.
and your training volume. And if we’re going to talk about macronutrients, you would also want to apply that thinking to your protein intake in particular. It’s getting to be about that time. But first I need to tell you about a new energy drink that I think is the perfect alternative to coffee or pre workout when you want a boost to get through a workout or maybe through an afternoon slump.
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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.
[00:32:00] 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. com muscle F O R life. 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.