Hello, hello, and welcome to Muscle For Life. I am your host, Mike Matthews, and today is a Q&A—Q&A number 70 that I’ve recorded. And per usual, I’m going to be answering questions that people have asked me over on Instagram. If you want to ask me questions, you’ve got to follow me on Instagram at Muscle For Life Fitness, and then you have to watch my stories.
And every couple of weeks or so, I put up a story. I ask for questions—you know, the little question sticker—and then I get a bunch of questions, go through them, and choose the ones that are topical or interesting or ones I just haven’t answered a million times already. I answer them briefly there on Instagram and then bring everything over here to the podcast, where I can answer the questions in more detail.
So today, I answer questions related to the behind-the-neck press: is that a necessary exercise? Whether I drink alcohol, my top three tips for problem-solving, if you are missing out on any benefits by doing the trap bar [00:01:00] deadlift versus the conventional deadlift or the sumo deadlift, the three best books I’ve read recently, and how long you should lean bulk for before you cut—how you should plan out your lean bulks and your cuts to get the best results—and more.
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[00:04:00] Clebs asks: “Is behind-the-neck press a necessary exercise? Safer alternative?”
So, my thoughts on the behind-the-neck press. First, most people find the behind-the-neck press uncomfortable because it requires above-average shoulder mobility to do correctly, and many people lack the above-average mobility required. Also, the exercise forces you to tilt your head forward into an awkward position to press from.
Second, the behind-the-neck press puts your shoulders in an inherently unstable position, which increases your risk of injury, particularly as you get stronger and have to use heavier weights to produce a sufficient training stimulus to make the exercise worthwhile. Sure, you can do a bunch of warm-up sets, I guess, but if you want to do hard working sets that can actually produce muscle growth, you have to train hard, use heavier weight, and push close to failure. Unfortunately, many people do exactly what you don’t want to do to compensate for the disadvantages of this exercise: they use much lighter loads and leave several reps in the tank in every set.
So then, they progress more slowly, and they progress in smaller amounts on the exercise. That, of course, limits your ability to gain muscle and strength. On balance, I think it’s reasonable to regard the behind-the-neck press as a viable exercise, but given its shortcomings, I’d rather use a standard press—so, in front rather than behind—to maximally and safely overload my shoulders, my front delts in particular. I rely mostly on effective isolation exercises like a lateral raise, a rear raise, or a rear-delt row to train my side and rear delts. I do not do the behind-the-neck press.
Okay, OwlCitiesFerrara asks: “You natty?”
Yes, and I’ll take a little victory lap for that—40 years old, lifting three days per week, I do cardio on the other days, and I’m still getting asked if I’m natty.
Annalise Rowe asks: “Do you drink alcohol?”
No, I don’t. I still don’t. I never got into drinking alcohol, and I figured it’s not a habit worth taking up. That said, a couple of months ago, I did have my first drink in probably 8 years or so. At a wedding, it was two shots of some shitty vodka thing, and it just made me feel kind of lightheaded for maybe 15 minutes, and then I felt nothing. So yeah, that was cool.
LLeon22 asks: “My girl works nights and has thyroid issues. Following plan, but not getting results. Ideas?”
Yes, a few things that can help here. One is maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, including on her days off, which is not fun, I know, but it really can help a lot if she can do it.
Two, using light to help regulate circadian rhythm. That means bright lights when you’re awake, darkness while you’re sleeping, and darkness starting at least an hour or so before bed. There’s also a device I came across recently that may be helpful in such a situation and also helpful with traveling. It’s called the Re-Timer, and it’s a clever and convenient, very portable little device for exposing your eyes to blue-green light, which has been shown to be the most effective in affecting the circadian rhythm. There are a number of papers that have been published with this device, so there’s research to support its efficacy.
Anyway, getting back to the tips: the third tip for someone who is working nights and has thyroid issues is using melatonin—just a standard protocol—and then finally, incorporating a 20- to 45-minute nap after being awake for about six to eight hours, if possible.
Okay, next question comes from Ezekiel Swanson: “Top three tips for problem-solving in general?”
Well, aside from the basics like developing critical thinking, developing metacognitive skills—so planning, monitoring, evaluating your own cognition, and so forth—and understanding the scientific method, I have a few specific tips.
One is firmly adopting the mindset that there is a solution. You don’t know what it is yet, but you have to get into that mindset: there is a solution, and you are going to find it. Then, you are going to face it.
Which brings me to my second point: accepting that sometimes the solution is in the place that we least want to look. Sometimes it is the thing that we do not want to face the most. We can often shortcut the process of finding solutions by just starting right there—by just being honest with ourselves. Where do we really not want to look? What do we really not want to face? Maybe we should just look there first, and maybe the solution is staring us right in the face.
To use a simple example in fitness, look at weight loss, right? How many people are struggling with weight loss and do not want to look at calories? Of course, they do not want to look at how much food they’re eating. They’re willing to look in so many other places—they’re willing to consider so many other absurd propositions—just to avoid facing the simple fact that they eat too much food. They just need to eat less food.
My wife is German, and she has told me that in Germany, in German culture, there is a meme, I guess you could call it, for weight loss, and it’s just this: “Eat half the amount of food you normally eat.” Like, that’s actually a thing that Germans hear growing up. “Oh, you want to lose weight? You just need to cut your food in half.” Very German. Very cold, practical, and workable.
Anyway, coming back to my list of problem-solving tips: number three is understanding that sometimes the right solution, the best solution, is also the least emotionally satisfying, the least emotionally palatable. And as a corollary to that, sometimes the most emotionally satisfying—at least in that moment—the most emotionally palatable solution is actually a really bad choice.
Sometimes we just have to force ourselves to do things that don’t feel great. Maybe even things that make us feel bad, make us feel sad, disappointed, angry—whatever—but we know are right because they’re supported by sound reasoning, facts, and logic. But often, we feel a lot better after making that difficult decision than we thought we would feel before we made it.
[00:11:00] I mean, think about working out, for example. How many times have you forced yourself into the gym to start a workout that you really didn’t want to do? You figured you’d give it 10 minutes, and if you still felt the same way after 10 minutes, you’d just leave. You’re doing it one rep at a time, one set at a time. And then, after 10 minutes, you start to enjoy yourself, and by the end of the workout, you’re feeling great. You’re so happy that you didn’t skip the workout.
Many people say their best workouts often started that way. Their best workouts are often not the ones where they came into the gym full of energy and motivation and crushed their workout. No, their best workouts—the ones that stand out the most in their mind—were the ones that started terribly, where they barely made it into the gym to do. They almost drove back home, then forced themselves to start the first set. And by the end, they felt totally revived.
If you’ve spent enough time in the gym, I’m sure you’ve had that experience more than once. It works the same way in other arenas of life and other endeavors. Often, we just have to force ourselves to do what we know should be done, to do the right thing—according to truth, facts, logic, and so forth—regardless of how we feel. And then afterward, we feel great.
iMegaBeast asks: “Do we miss out on any benefits by doing trap bar deadlift over sumo or conventional?”
Nothing meaningful, no. The trap bar deadlift is a great exercise, despite what some people would have you believe. What we’re mostly talking about are skill and strength specific to those exercises. So, if you do a lot of trap bar deadlifting, it is not going to translate over as well as you might think to a conventional or sumo deadlift. You’ll have to work on those exercises to build up the technical skill to be able to fully express the strength you’ve built on, let’s say, the trap bar deadlift.
The reverse is probably not as true, at least not as true in my experience. Meaning, if you do a lot of conventional or sumo deadlifting, then go over to the trap bar, you will likely be able to express the majority of your strength on that exercise because it’s less technically demanding.
Something I’ve done for a long time is alternate between the conventional and the trap bar deadlift. I don’t like sumo; it doesn’t feel good to me, so I just don’t have a reason to do it. For a long time, I’ve alternated between conventional and trap bar deadlifting, mostly to give my joints a bit of a break. The trap bar deadlift is easier on your back, for example. You can also load it up a little bit heavier than the conventional deadlift.
Jacob Callahan asks: “Thoughts on the Trump conviction?”
This was asked back in November, I think—it was before the election, just for some context. But my thoughts at the time were that it seemed to be high-risk practical politics that was likely to fail. That’s what I was saying at the time. I didn’t think it was going to do much of anything but boost Trump’s fundraising and polling, which is ultimately what happened.
The reason for that is it was just too contrived. I didn’t really understand the strategy from the Democrats beyond maybe desperation. If I were Trump back then, I would’ve been begging for a jail sentence that would have been successfully appealed to the Supreme Court. I wouldn’t actually have gone to jail, but I’d have been begging for a jail sentence to further improve my numbers—my polling, my fundraising. Again, I would appeal it to the Supreme Court, confident it would be overturned. So, I’m not going to jail. Never interrupt your enemy while they are making a mistake, right?
Okay, the next question comes from Jess Dunning Ebersolk, and she asks: “Are eating disorders something you regularly advocate, or are you just mindless?”
Okay, so first, let’s calm down, dear, because there is no need for the hysterics. In fact, let me speak to your husband. I need to tell you about my bestselling 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. While it cannot give you a toned Hollywood-babe body in 30 days and is not full of diet and exercise 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. It will demystify muscle building and fat loss, showing you exactly how to get a lean, strong, and fit physique without spending hours in the gym every day or giving up your favorite foods like hamburgers, pizza, or even ice cream.
The kicker? You’ll see visible results in the mirror and in the gym in just your first month on the program that comes with the book.
How is all of that possible? The truth is muscle building and fat loss just aren’t nearly as complicated as you’ve been led to believe. You don’t have to obsess over “clean eating.” You don’t have to avoid unhealthy foods like sugar, meat, or bread. Some foods are more nutritious and should be eaten more frequently than others, but that’s about it.
You also don’t have to grind through hours of punishing workouts every week—sweating buckets, getting really sore, or training until you’re bone tired. Those things are completely overrated for gaining muscle and strength.
[00:18:00] You also don’t have to slog away on the treadmill. In fact, you don’t need to do any cardio at all to get rid of belly, hip, and thigh fat. Cardio can help, and cardio is healthy, but you don’t have to do it to get into great shape. Those are just a few of the harmful lies and myths that keep women weak, overweight, and confused.
In my book Thinner Leaner Stronger, you will learn something that most of those women, unfortunately, will probably never know. That is how to cut through all the confusion and clutter and create clear, structured, no-nonsense diet and training plans tailored to your fitness goals, circumstances, and preferences.
That’s why Thinner Leaner Stronger is one of the most popular women’s fitness books of all time, with over 500,000 copies sold in 13 different languages. It’s helped tens of thousands of women of all ages and abilities transform their body composition, fitness, and health. The Thinner Leaner Stronger system of eating, training, and recovering is also supported by 367 peer-reviewed scientific studies referenced in the back of the book.
And Thinner Leaner Stronger has been regularly revised over the years based on the latest findings in nutrition, exercise, and supplementation research, with the latest version—the fourth edition—released in 2023. So, the bottom line is this: you can get that head-turning, beach-ready body without following weird, extreme, or complicated diet, exercise, or supplementation strategies. And Thinner Leaner Stronger will show you how.
So, head over to Amazon, get your copy now, and start your journey to a fitter, leaner, and stronger you.
Walking Paws asks: “The best three books that you’ve read recently?”
I’ve been on a bit of a book-losing streak this year. There are a number of books that I just barely finished—almost quit—but I found just enough value to finish. I’ve also quit a number of books, particularly genre fiction, because I’m interested in writing genre fiction. I’ve been working on that as a hobby for some time now.
I started by educating myself, reading a bunch of books on writing genre fiction and just writing fiction in general. Then I processed all of my highlights and notes, building out a system that will allow me to apply what I’m learning in those books because it’s way too much to try to keep in your head. I chose to build it out as checklists—I think that’s the simplest way to turn the information into something you can actually use when you’re writing.
Now, I’m working on what will be a short story, maybe something between a short story and a novella. The logic there being that if you can’t make short stories or novellas work, you have no business writing novels, right?
Anyway, I’ve quit a lot of genre fiction: The Name of the Wind—boring. The Lies of Locke Lamora—boring. The Blade Itself—boring. Assassin’s Apprentice—boring. Earthsea—boring. Not only boring, but I’m surprised at how many best-selling fiction books—these are fantasy books, obviously, because that’s a genre I have an affinity for—are deeply flawed from a storytelling perspective. They violate some very fundamental principles of effective storytelling.
I’ll give you an example: a good story always has a protagonist with a very clear goal, a very clear desire—something they’re trying to achieve. You know very clearly whether they have achieved it or not. In good stories, that desire becomes a burning desire—something they would sacrifice everything for, maybe even their life. That might be figurative, depending on the type of story.
According to time-proven storytelling principles, your story doesn’t even begin until you’ve established that. Something I’m so sick of are stories that start with a protagonist who has no real desire, nothing at stake. They’re just wandering around, stumbling into something that might, at some point, turn into a desire.
Still, after 100 pages, 150 pages, there’s no clear desire—nothing they care deeply about, nothing they couldn’t just walk away from. That’s a simple test: what happens if the protagonist were to just walk away or say, “You know what, I don’t care about this anymore. I’m just going to do something else”? If there are no consequences, your story hasn’t even started.
Again, I’m finding story after story, particularly in the fantasy genre, that starts this way. Protagonists have no clear desire and don’t care about much of anything. After 100 to 200 pages—and I’m giving these books plenty of time, not quitting after 20 pages—the protagonist is still just puttering around. At any point, they could quit, and there’d be no negative consequences. That’s just a poorly designed story, period.
That’s just one thing. I could go through probably ten examples of Storytelling 101 foundational principles that are grossly violated by many of these bestselling books. I’m surprised. My assumption now is that many professional, traditionally published fiction authors—people who make most or all of their income from writing fiction books—haven’t studied the craft of storytelling very deeply.
My guess is that a lot of them have read a lot of fiction and, through osmosis, picked up enough to be good enough to get as far as they have, but they haven’t made a true study of the art. That’s my assumption so far.
[00:24:00] Anyway, I haven’t even answered the question yet. Let’s look at my spreadsheet of what I’ve read this year. The Four Pillars of Investing—I’d recommend that if you want to learn about investing. That was a good book. Twelve Against the Gods—I liked some of it. It was a bit too overwrought for me; the writing was a bit too frilly, but I did like some of the ideas in that book.
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins was surprisingly good to me. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I actually quite liked it. I found it inspiring. He has a wild story. Definitely a motivational book to help you stop being a victim, stop making excuses, and just do the things you know you need to do regardless of how you feel about doing them.
I also read his next book, Never Finished, which I also liked, but not as much as Can’t Hurt Me. There was a book called The Art of Strategy because I wanted to read about game theory. I’ve read some Game Theory 101-type stuff in the past, found it interesting, and wanted to go a little deeper. The Art of Strategy by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff was good. I liked that book.
The Psychology of Money—I didn’t really like it. I barely finished it. Not only is it not very applicable to me and my circumstances, but I found a number of the arguments in the book very superficial and, in some cases, just completely wrong—not true. For example, in the book, Morgan Housel says many people are terrible with money because they buy things they don’t need to try to get recognition or admiration from people, to signal status. He acknowledges that as an acceptable desire, maybe even a natural desire, but argues that buying things like a fancy car, for example, is actually not an effective way to get that because you might think you’re getting attention from people, but they’re actually giving attention to your car and imagining themselves in it, completely ignoring you.
Uh, no. That is completely wrong. One of the easiest ways to get that type of attention from people—and to get treated better, to get interest from people who otherwise wouldn’t be interested in you, including the opposite sex (more so with men and women than the reverse, but it works both ways)—is to make sure people know you have a lot of money. What’s the easiest way to make sure people quickly know that? It’s to drive a fancy car, wear a fancy watch, etc. Conspicuous consumption works if what you’re trying to do is get that type of attention from people, to get interest.
The real problem is feeling like you need that attention—feeling like you need to be interesting all the time, need people to be interested in you, to ask what you do for a living, to want favors from you, to want to be around you, maybe even wish they were you. That’s the real problem. Of course, people don’t want to hear that because they don’t know what to do about it. So, in the book, Housel just glosses over that and says, “That’s natural; there’s nothing particularly wrong with that. It’s just that conspicuous consumption doesn’t really work for that.” No, it absolutely does, and the real problem is needing that attention in the first place.
Anyway, that’s just an example of something that irks me when I’m reading books. I wonder, in this case, if the author even believed what he wrote or if it was just marketing. I think of a marketer, Blair Warren, who published something called The One-Sentence Persuasion. It goes like this:
“People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.”
I think there’s a lot of truth in that, and The Psychology of Money did a good job tapping into each of those elements—encouraging dreams, justifying failures, allaying fears, confirming suspicions, and throwing rocks at enemies. But on balance, The Psychology of Money is definitely a net positive. It has good advice, and I’m sure it’s helping a lot of people make better financial decisions.
As far as investing 101 books go, I much preferred The Four Pillars of Investing. It doesn’t have all of the emotional cope that The Psychology of Money has. Some people probably should read The Psychology of Money first to get the “copium” they need to make better financial decisions. But if you don’t have a bunch of emotional, psychological baggage around money and just want to know how to be a competent investor who can get rich slowly and intelligently, again, The Four Pillars of Investing is a better book.
Anyway, coming back to my 2024 reading list, I’m currently reading The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant, which I love. At this point, I basically love anything by Will Durant. I’ve read, let’s see, four or five of his books now and have really enjoyed every single one. He’s one of my favorite authors, actually, period. Certainly one of my favorite writers of history and one of my favorite thinkers. I like the way his mind works, and I like the way he expresses his thoughts as well.
I’m reading that, and I’m also reading The Martian by Andy Weir, which I’m liking. One of the reasons I’m liking it is this: page one, what do we have? Oh, look at that! We have a protagonist with a very clear goal, a very clear desire that matters a lot to him. The stakes are very high. We also have very clear forces working against him that he’s going to have to overcome. He’s clearly an underdog, and you have to wonder, how is he going to do this? You figure he’s probably going to make it in the end, but you have no idea how or what it’s going to cost him.
[00:31:00] All right, let’s move on.
K lifts forever asks: “How long should bulking/cutting/maintaining phases last?”
A good rule of thumb is at least three months of lean bulking for every month of cutting. That’s assuming you don’t need to first lose a lot of fat, of course. In that case, you just cut for as long as you need to lose the fat you need to lose. But when you are alternating between lean bulking and cutting, again, the target is at least three months of lean bulking for every month of cutting.
You don’t have to insert maintenance phases if you don’t want to, but you can if you’d like because maybe you want a break from overeating or undereating. And of course, you can still gain muscle and strength while maintaining—it’s just not going to be as effective as it is while lean bulking.
Milkman82 asks: “Does keeping my heart rate elevated into zone 2 while lifting count for weekly cardio?”
Yes, it would, but I don’t recommend that you do that because it’ll require shorter-than-optimal rest periods that will result in less muscle and strength gain. When we’re lifting, the focus is gaining muscle and strength. If we want to do cardiovascular exercise, then we should hop on a bike, go for a run, or do dedicated cardio. Try not to make your weightlifting into cardio unless you have a specific reason to do that.
For example, unless you already have enough muscle and strength to be happy and you want to work on your muscle endurance, you might intentionally use shorter rest periods and essentially turn your lifting into a kind of metabolic conditioning. That’s one reason you might do it. But if it’s just about cardio and training your cardiovascular system, then I’d recommend doing separate cardio. Generally, I’d recommend lifting weights to gain or maintain muscle and strength and doing cardio to train your cardiovascular system.
Mario Hugon asks: “Recommendations on carb/calorie-efficient foods?”
Sure! So, we have grains like rice and oats, whole-grain bread, and whole-grain pasta. We have energy-dense fruits like bananas, grapes, and mangoes. There are also some energy-dense vegetables—or at least denser than vegetables that have very few calories and carbs—like potatoes. Potatoes are very filling, though, so that can get in the way of lean bulking depending on your appetite. Sweet potatoes are energy-dense and delicious, and you’ve got corn and peas, which are also easy to eat a lot of.
There are energy-dense legumes like lentils, chickpeas, and black beans. Finally, there are high-carb treat foods like popcorn, rice cakes, crackers, pretzels, and candy. But again, candy would be a treat—I wouldn’t recommend getting a significant portion of your daily carbs or calories from candy.
Mopar Johnny asks: “Favorite obliques exercise?”
Well, it’s going to be the squat, the deadlift, and the overhead press because that’s really all most people need to get obliques they’re happy with. If you do direct oblique work, like side bends, in addition to squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses, yes, you can build bigger obliques. But you can also end up in a situation where you have large, very developed obliques that look cool when you’re really lean but just make you look thicker or even fatter when you’re not.
So just be aware of that.
Rich MCC 1975 asks: “Why are people who do CrossFit jacked? They do more volume and cardio than you would prescribe.”
Well, keep in mind there’s often a selection bias in play when you’re looking at people who do CrossFit. Often, these are people who were already jacked before CrossFit and then used it to stay jacked.
In some cases, what you don’t know is that, in addition to CrossFit workouts, they go to a traditional gym and lift weights for a couple of hours per week as well. If you’re referring to elite CrossFitters or other hybrid athletes in general, there’s also drugs. Let’s not forget that.
Robert Malstrom asks: “What’s better for muscle growth: 6 to 8 reps or 10 to 15 reps?”
Theoretically, neither. Six to eight reps can be just as effective as 10 to 15 reps and vice versa, if you’re pushing close to failure on the right exercises with the right form and so forth. However, practically speaking, I would say 6 to 8 reps are better for gaining strength than 10 to 15 reps. As you become an intermediate weightlifter, it becomes more important to continue gaining strength to achieve progressive overload.
Regardless of how you’re setting up your rep ranges, you want to make sure you’re doing at least some heavier weightlifting—something between 4 and 8 reps per set. That’s more effective for gaining strength than doing 10 to 15 reps per set. But there’s also the enjoyability factor. Most people would say that doing 6 to 8 reps, maybe up to 10 reps, taken close to failure on most exercises is more enjoyable than doing 10 to 15 reps. Why? Because 10 to 15 reps just hurts more.
It also takes more time. For what it’s worth, a set of 12 or 15 reps takes about twice as long as a set of 6 or 7 reps. That’s especially true on compound exercises. Go do a set of any type of squat—whether it’s barbell or machine—for 6 to 8 reps and push close to failure. Not all the way to failure, but your final rep needs to be difficult, slower than the first rep, and maybe you could do, let’s say, 2 more max, maybe 3 if you absolutely had to.
Now, in the next set, adjust the weight and do that for 15 reps. Again, by the 15th rep, your legs are on fire. That rep is significantly slower than your first or even your fifth. See which one you like more. Now, apply that to a bunch of other exercises every week forever.
[00:38:00] Roby 11 asks: “What have you seen work the best for someone to bulk while staying lean?”
One thing that can work quite well is five days of a moderate calorie surplus—let’s say a 5 to 10 percent surplus—followed by two days of a moderate deficit, something like 20 to 25 percent. This is also called calorie cycling.
Of course, it requires more management than many people want to engage in because you basically have to follow a meal plan or track your calories and macros closer than most people want to—seven days a week. But if you’re willing to do that, it can work quite well for gaining more muscle and strength than you would by just eating at maintenance. Maintenance, by the way, really means you’re either a little bit over or a little bit under. We’re never eating the exact amount of calories we’re burning, of course.
If you like being lean-ish, you’re going to tend to under-eat rather than overeat. Maintenance for a lot of people, unfortunately, tends to look like three, four, five days of a slight deficit, followed by—well, not necessarily followed by—but over the course of a week, the majority of the days are in a slight deficit. The remaining days are enough of a surplus to maintain body composition over time. That’s not ideal from a muscle-building perspective.
With this calorie cycling approach, you’re intentionally in a surplus five days out of the week, and then you’re using the next two days to lose some, most, or maybe even all of the fat you gained in the five days of the surplus. That can be more effective over time for gaining muscle and strength than just trying to eat at maintenance calories.
That said, it’s inferior to having all days in a moderate surplus. It’s hard to say how inferior, but if you want to gain muscle and strength as quickly as possible—especially if you’re an intermediate or advanced weightlifter—just maintaining that steady calorie surplus is key, assuming you’re natural.
Sam Huffler 23 asks: “Is there any reason Legion isn’t sold in stores? Or at least, I’ve never found it.”
Yeah, we’re launching with Vitamin Shoppe finally at the beginning of next year, 2025. I’m not sure when this is going up, so maybe I should be saying “this year,” but in 2025 Q1, we’re rolling out with Vitamin Shoppe. We’re going to be pursuing some other opportunities as well. By the beginning of 2026, we’re planning to go much wider than Vitamin Shoppe and a handful of other possible grocery stores and independent chains.
The reason I’ve waited this long is that we focused on e-commerce, and we’ve done very well in e-commerce. But waiting this long was probably a mistake. Typically, the playbook looks like this: you start your brand—whatever company, really, if it’s a CPG (consumer packaged goods) product, you start online. You use e-commerce to prove that you have product-market fit and a value proposition that can scale a business.
Typically, that looks like maybe $5 million in annual revenue. Once you can show that you’ve sold $5 million worth of stuff in the previous 12 months, you can get retailers interested. At that point, you typically go into retail. Many CPG brands that do that end up focusing more on their retail business and relying on retail for most of their revenue instead of e-commerce.
In the case of Legion, we’ve gotten quite far considering the circumstances in e-commerce. We’ll do about $45 million in sales this year—I’m recording this in 2024, but I think it’s going up in 2025. So, last year, we did about $45 million. In 2025, we’re forecasting significant growth—at least 25 to 30 percent, maybe as high as 40 percent. We haven’t finalized the forecast yet, but that’s what it’s looking like. That’s because we’re rolling out new channels, products, flavors, and marketing initiatives.
Some of those marketing initiatives—particularly with paid acquisition—should have been done a long time ago. Waiting this long to go into retail was probably a mistake, but at this point, it’s also an opportunity. The brand should probably be doing $40 to $50 million in retail alone, and that’s probably three to five years of smart work. It’s straightforward—it’s not easy, but all the elements are there on our end in terms of brand equity, product-market fit, and the value proposition. There’s no reason why it can’t happen like that; it just needs to be executed on. That means we need the right people and the right strategy, so that’s going to be a top priority for growth over the next few years.
International distribution is also an area where we’re just getting started. There’s a lot of demand, and it’s something we should’ve pursued more aggressively a while ago. But here we are.
Sienna Gianelli asks: “How to convert kayaking into your step count?”
I would count that toward physical activity rather than steps because moving your lower body is important for maintaining hip and back function and health. In some ways, walking really is medicine.
Sterling Leck asks: “No TRT at all whatsoever? How the hell do you look like that at 40 natural?”
No, no TRT. I actually recently got blood work done. My total testosterone was 714, and my free testosterone was 9.2, which is not great. My SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin) was 50 or 51, if I remember correctly. I just got blood work done again because I’m doing a sleep program called Absolute Rest, run by Dr. Andy Galpin, and that involves blood work. I’m curious to see if my SHBG is still high—I haven’t seen the results yet.
Between the two tests, I increased my carb intake. When I looked at my blood results, I saw high SHBG, low fasting insulin—not problematically low, but just low—and low blood sugar. Again, not problematically low, but low. I looked at my carb intake at the time, and it was between 200 and 250 grams per day. For someone who’s fairly physically active and trains moderately hard, that’s kind of a low-carb diet. You’d expect to see high SHBG, low insulin, and low blood glucose on a low-carb diet.
A simple fix in that specific situation can be just eating more carbs. So, that’s what I’ve done. I’ve added 40 to 50 grams of carbs to my meal plan. I’ll be curious to see if it had any effect in this new blood work.
[00:45:00] But anyway, regardless, no TRT. High-ish total testosterone for my age, normal free testosterone because of the SHBG. Otherwise, that would probably be high-ish too. I just practice what I preach: proper nutrition, exercise, sleep, no alcohol, and supplements. Of course, supplements are the least important, but I do take basically all of my supplements. One of the reasons I started Legion was just to scratch my own itch and make the things that I want.
There are no secrets—only the work. Especially the work you least want to do.
We will conclude today’s episode shortly, but first, I need to tell you about my one-on-one coaching program, which might be for you if you feel like no matter what you do to eat better, no matter how much you work out, no matter what supplements you take, nothing seems to work.
I know what that’s like—I’ve been there. It can be very frustrating. It can even make you feel a little crazy. You try and try and try, and when those things don’t work, you try something else. You jump onto the new diet or the new workout plan. Then, when you give your all to the newest thing and it doesn’t work, you feel like giving up. Or maybe you muster the will to keep the cycle going, but either way, you remain stuck.
This is how people can go to the gym for years, eat well—at least well enough—take good supplements, and still look more or less the same as when they started. Today, I’m going to give you the solution. I’m going to show you how to get unstuck and finally out of that vicious cycle once and for all.
It starts with this: the biggest thing I see with the people we help is they are often missing just one crucial piece of the puzzle. And I bet it’s the same with you. You’re probably doing a lot of things right. However, there’s probably something you’re not doing right that’s giving you most of the grief.
For example, maybe it’s your calories or macros. Maybe it’s your exercise selection. Maybe it’s your food choices. Maybe you’re not progressively overloading your muscles. Whatever it is, here’s what’s important: once you identify what that one thing you’re missing is—once you figure it out—that’s when everything finally clicks. That’s when you start making serious progress.
This is exactly what my coaching team has done for over 3,000 men and women of all ages and abilities. For example, they did it for Sarah, one of our clients who lost 21 pounds and six and a half inches off her waist in just 90 days. In her words, quote, “I’m in the best physical appearance of my life at age 45, and I have more energy and confidence. I feel like I’ve found the secret to success.”
We also did the same thing for another client, Andy, who cut 11 pounds of body fat and over 4 inches from his waist while gaining over 50 pounds on his key lifts. He did those things in just 90 days.
In 90 days, we helped another client, Jen, slash 4 inches from her waist, add 30 pounds to her squat, and cut almost 15 pounds of body fat—all while eating foods she loved. In her words, quote, “Rarely feeling hungry.”
I could go on like that literally for hours. But in almost every success story, first and foremost, we helped our clients figure out that one thing that made all the difference for them. It’s kind of like typing in a password to log into your computer. You could have all the letters, numbers, and symbols correct except for one, and you wouldn’t be able to log in. But as soon as you get that last character right, voilà, you’re in business.
If I’ve learned anything from the thousands of success stories we’ve racked up over the years, it’s this: you, too, are probably just one major shift, one important insight, or one powerful new behavior away from easy street—or at least what feels like easy street compared to the street you’ve been stuck on.
If you want some help figuring out what that one thing is—the thing that’s missing for you—then my one-on-one coaching service might be for you. And, of course, it could be a couple of things; it doesn’t have to just be one. And we don’t charge extra for that either.
: If you want to see if my coaching service is right for you, go to buylegion.com/coaching and schedule your free consultation call. My team will learn about you, your goals, your lifestyle, and together, you can determine if the program is right for you.
By the way, there are people we speak with who aren’t a good fit for the program—that does happen. But we almost always have other experts or resources to refer them to. Then, if the program makes sense to you, you sign up, show up every day, do the work, and we guarantee your results—or you get your money back.
[00:51:00] So again, if you’re still listening to this and even remotely interested in what I’ve said, don’t put this off for later and then forget. Take the first step now. Schedule your free consultation call over at buylegion.com/coaching
Well, I hope you liked this episode. I hope you found it helpful. If you did, subscribe to the show. It makes sure you don’t miss new episodes, and it helps me because it increases the show’s rankings, which, of course, makes it a little easier to be found by other people who may like it just as much as you.
If you didn’t like something about this episode or the show in general—or if you have ideas, suggestions, or feedback—shoot me an email: [email protected] Let me know what I could do better or just share your thoughts about 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.
Thanks again for listening to this episode, and I hope to hear from you soon.
