Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - The Best of Muscle for Life: Mini-Cuts and Bulks, the Science of Hypertrophy, and 48 Laws of Power

Episode Date: November 19, 2020

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 macronutrien...t 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: Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks (Originally published April 5, 2019) The Definitive (and Practical) Guide to Muscle Hypertrophy (Originally published January 16, 2019) My Top 5 Takeaways from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (Originally published Jan 7, 2019) And we’ll be starting with number one, Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks. 5:29 - Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks 14:48 - The Definitive (and Practical) Guide to Muscle Hypertrophy 24:30 - My Top 5 Takeaways from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene --- Mentioned on The Show:  Layne Norton on Mini-Cuts and Mini-Bulks: https://legionathletics.com/layne-norton-mini-cuts-mini-bulks/ The Definitive (and Practical) Guide to Muscle Hypertrophy: https://legionathletics.com/muscle-hypertrophy-podcast/ My Top 5 Takeaways from The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene: https://legionathletics.com/48-laws-of-power-podcast/ Shop Legion Supplements Here: https://legionathletics.com/shop/ --- Want free workout and meal plans? Download my science-based diet and training templates for men and women: https://legionathletics.com/text-sign-up/

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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
Starting point is 00:00:55 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
Starting point is 00:01:44 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
Starting point is 00:02:19 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 was an interview I did with Lane Norton on mini cuts and mini bulks. And this was originally published on April 5th of 2019, in case you want to go back and hear the
Starting point is 00:03:05 whole interview. The second is a monologue that I did called the Definitive and Practical Guide to Muscle Hypertrophy. And this was published on January 16th, 2019, in case you want to go check it out. And then the third episode that you are going to hear highlights from was a monologue called My Top Five Takeaways from the the 48 laws of power by Robert Green, a book club episode that was published on January 7th, 2019. 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
Starting point is 00:03:53 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 in Legion's products. To check out everything we have to
Starting point is 00:04:42 offer, including protein powders and protein bars, pre-workout, post-workout supplements, fat burners, multivitamins, joint support, and more, head over to www.buylegion.com. And just to show how much I appreciate my podcast peeps, use the coupon code MFL at checkout and you will save 20% on your entire first order. So again, if you appreciate my work and if you want to see more of it, and if you also want all natural evidence-based supplements that work, please do consider supporting Legion so I can keep doing what I love, like producing more podcasts like this. supporting Legion so I can keep doing what I love, like producing more podcasts like this. All right, let's start with the interview I did with Lane Norton on mini cuts and mini bulks. Generally speaking, is it better to stretch your surpluses, your calorie surpluses out for as long as possible, which then basically you kind of just ride it until you get too fat. And if you're a guy,
Starting point is 00:05:43 let's say it's somewhere up around 17, 18% or so is when you, most people are like, all right, I need to lose some fucking fat. And then you go into it, you go into a sustained deficit to get rid of the fat and retain as much of the muscle as you can that you gained. And then just rinse repeat. Is that a better strategy for long-term muscle and strength gain? Or is it better to do shorter periods of surpluses and deficits? So I thought Lane would be the perfect guy to talk to about this because he's had a lot of experience both personally and with clients doing it both ways. And yeah, so with that, Lane, here's the microphone. Yeah, so great question. And as people who know me, what I'm going to say is it depends. So I think in general, talking off air, but I agree with you that I think when you first get into lifting, especially for guys, women are a little bit different just because psychology makeup and we'll talk about that. For guys, you want to spend a good portion of that in a surplus so you can really maximize what you can do in that first year because that's where you're going to get – people argue about how much of your overall gains you make in the first year.
Starting point is 00:07:00 But I mean it's probably over 50% of the muscle you're going to gain in your entire life from training is going to be in the first year of consistent training. It's an astronomical amount compared to the other years. So I think being in a deficit because you're going to recomposition anyway, even if you're in a surplus, you're going to be partitioning a lot more of those nutrients towards building muscle and lean body mass as opposed to gaining fat than you will at any other time in your training career regardless. So I don't think we're not saying eat like an idiot, but I think, you know, a sustained. I was going to say, like, let's qualify that to be like, really? I can, you know, super bulk and gain 50 pounds in a year. I don't think that's productive. I think a sustained several hundred calorie surplus is probably productive where you're gaining a solid two to four pounds per month. I think that that's probably want to shoot for like the average of like around two or
Starting point is 00:07:43 three if you're new. And obviously it depends on if you're tiny and you're 110 pound guy, you don't want to be probably gaining four pounds a month. That's probably too rapid. So in any case, I think in those cases, what I tend to see is people who get into lifting, they want to be shredded and huge at the same time. They do these things improperly because the timing is really important. And what they do is they end up chasing their tail. They kind of half-ass a bulk and then they get a few weeks into the bulk and they go, oh man, I want to be shredded. And then they go, they do a few weeks of cutting and they kind of half-ass it. Screw this cutting. I want to be jacked. I want to be huge. I don't care if I'm fat. And then they start to get a little fat and they just go around chasing their tail. They don't
Starting point is 00:08:27 make any progress. I think if you're doing targeted, I used to do this. I'd been lifting about three or four years consistently. And I started doing, I guess what you would call cyclical bulking. So I would do four to eight weeks in a surplus. And then I would do two to three weeks in a deficit. And the reason I like that was because one, two to three weeks of cutting is not enough to really drop your metabolic rate. You'll have a small amount of drop in that short of time period, but it's not much. It's not going to be anything that lasts for a meaningful period of time. And you're probably also not going to notice much difference in the way of training, right? That's right. The other benefit is you're going to lose the most amount of fat. Anybody
Starting point is 00:09:09 who's ever done a long cut, when do you drop easiest? Right at the beginning, right? Right after you've been in a surplus. It's when you get to the end that it becomes an absolute and utter grind. You're going to be able to cut fat more efficiently during those early weeks. you're going to be able to cut fat more efficiently during those early weeks so you get that it's kind of like you know you get in get out get some fat off feel more comfortable and i found that that actually did a good job with motivating people to get back on their bulk because they've cut off a little bit of excess fat they feel a little more comfortable and okay now i'm happy to go back into this bulk and try to build some more muscle i think for people who they have a healthy metabolic rate and they haven't been doing yo-yo dieting all their life, I think it can be really, cyclical walking can be a great
Starting point is 00:09:54 thing. I mean, we kind of have cyclical cutting now. I don't know if you've seen any of the recent research on diet breaks. Yeah, I've written and spoken about it a little bit, actually. Yeah, so really interesting stuff. I'm actually on a recent review of literature with a couple of those Jackson Pios, Eric Helms, and Andy Galpin. It's pretty interesting. It's kind of like the same concept, but in reverse.
Starting point is 00:10:16 When you do one to two week phases at maintenance while you're cutting, it seems like it preserves your metabolic rate much better than if you're just doing a straight deficit. Whereas in the off season or bulking season, I don't want to call it, you're putting in these little cuts and they do really well because your metabolic rate's really fast. Now you're putting in these little periods of maintenance to kind of convince your body that, hey, I know we've had this deficit, but here's some food. Food's not scarce. You don't have to go so aggressive with metabolic adaptation because what happens during dieting is your body tends to overreact to your deficit. It will slow down much more than you, your metabolic rate slows down much more than you would predict just based
Starting point is 00:11:02 on the amount of lean body mass you lose and fat mass. So yeah, I think that these kind of cycles can be really helpful, but it also depends on the psychological makeup of the person. I mean, I had somebody who during cutting, I was doing diet breaks with them and they were like, I hate this. I hate feeling like I get into a rhythm and then boom, now I've got a week where I've got to eat more and I just want to do straight deficit. I don't want high days. I don't want low days. I want the same every day. And you know, for me, what I tell people is the most important thing is having a plan that you can stick to. So I said, Hey, if that's something that that's more sustainable for you, then that's what we'll do. But I think they are a useful tool as long as they're implemented appropriately. All right. So you have someone, well, it could be a guy or a girl, and they're implemented appropriately. All right. So you have someone, it could be a guy
Starting point is 00:11:45 or a girl, and they're starting with a relatively high body fat percentage. Let's say it's a dude at 20 or 25% or a girl at 25, 30 plus. What are your thoughts there? And they're just getting into weightlifting. They're going, okay, should I? I think I'm probably going to have them cut first. And here's my reasoning with that. Since they're new, they're still going to gain muscle regardless. One, because they have a big surplus of energy, their body fat stores. So they can do some body recompositioning. And the drive to adapt to the stimulus is going to be so great at the onset of training that they are going to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time right for the most part so yes and the other thing is too is like if you take somebody who's not comfortable in their diet and they say you know what we're going to put you on a bulk or not not comfortable their body we're going to put you on a bulk you need to be the calorie surplus their adherence is going to be pretty shit because they're going to
Starting point is 00:12:44 be like, well, why am I doing this? I feel like I'm looking worse and worse or not getting to my goal. Whereas if you can get them to drop, you know, 20, 15, 20 pounds or something like that, they look better, they feel better, they feel better about themselves. And they're probably more encouraged and are going to be more adherent moving forward and being consistent now they've got some of that progress i usually tell people when in doubt cut is usually what i say people say well should i cut should i build i usually say when in doubt cut only from the perspective that for me and clients i work with if they're not real comfortable with their body heading into a bulk
Starting point is 00:13:22 or a muscle gaining phase they don't stick with it very long because they start looking in the mirror and they go, oh. I mean, look at me. I've been doing this for 20 years. I'd like to think I'm pretty successful. And still, I'm about 225 right now, which is big for me. And I'm looking in the mirror and I'm having to tell myself, you're not fat. You're just comparing yourself to what your best was, you know, body fat wise. You're not fat.
Starting point is 00:13:47 You're still lean by most people's standards, you know, but even my mind plays tricks on me, you know. But that's if I was 16, I wouldn't be able to do this. I mean, the gaining phase when I didn't feel real comfortable with myself because I would just fall back into cutting, you know? So I think if it's a cut with the focus that you're going to get comfortable enough to where you can then get back into a caloric surplus, build some muscle, that sort of thing, I think that's okay. But yeah, I've just found that people
Starting point is 00:14:15 have pretty terrible adherence to gaining phases when they already don't feel comfortable with their body fat level. Yep, yep. I totally agree. Okay, that's it for the highlight reel of the interview I did with Elaine Norton on mini cuts and mini bulks. Again, this was originally published on April 5th, 2019. So you can just go back and find it if you want to listen to the whole thing. Now let's get to
Starting point is 00:14:39 number two, the takeaways from the monologue I did on muscle hypertrophy called the definitive and practical guide to muscle hypertrophy. Let's start with answering a simple question. The first question that we need to ask, which is what is muscle hypertrophy? Well, like I mentioned, it is simply the technical term for an increase in muscle size. Hyper means over or more. So muscle hypertrophy literally means the growth of muscle cells. Now to understand what causes muscle hypertrophy and how it works, you first need to understand what muscles are comprised of. So muscle tissue is a complex structure with bundles of long strands of muscle cells that are sheathed in a thick band of connective tissue known as the paramecium. There are three
Starting point is 00:15:36 main components of muscle tissue and they are water, which makes up about 60 to 80% of muscle tissue by weight, glycogen, which is a form of stored carbohydrate that can make up anywhere from 0 to 5% of muscle tissue by weight, and protein, which makes up about 20% of muscle tissue by weight. So to cause muscle hypertrophy, you need to increase the amount of water, glycogen, or protein in a muscle cell. Okay, so far so good. Simple enough, right? Now let's talk about the two kinds of muscle hypertrophy. So when people say muscle hypertrophy, they're generally referring to an increase in the amount of protein in the muscle. And this is known as myofibular hypertrophy, which refers to an increase in the amount of protein contained in individual muscle cells. Now it's called
Starting point is 00:16:32 myofibular hypertrophy because myo means muscle and a fibril is a thread-like cellular structure. Myofibular hypertrophy is not the only type of muscle hypertrophy, though. There is also sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Now, sarco means flesh, and plasmic refers to plasma, which is a gel-like material in a cell that contains various important particles for life. We can just leave it at that. We don't have to get too complicated with it. So sarcoplasmic hypertrophy then is an increase in the volume of the fluid and the non-contractile components of the muscle, the stuff that doesn't contract like glycogen, water, minerals, and so forth. So first let's talk about muscle fiber type and how this affects muscle hypertrophy. So as you know, muscle fiber is a muscle cell. Those terms are interchangeable
Starting point is 00:17:26 and not all are the same. Some muscle fibers are better suited for endurance activities and others are more suited for strength and power. So the former, the endurance fibers, you could say, are technically referred to as type one muscle fibers. And the latter, the strength and power ones, are type 2. Now, the type 1 fibers are also known as slow twitch muscle fibers. You've probably heard of that. And these are dense with capillaries. They are rich in mitochondria and myoglobin. And they are very efficient at absorbing oxygen from the blood, which makes them very resistant to fatigue. This is why these type 1 muscle fibers can contract repeatedly for very long periods of time. They also, however, have about half of the potential for growth and power output as type 2 muscle fibers.
Starting point is 00:18:20 Now, type 2 muscle fibers are also known as fast twitch muscle fibers, and their structure and physiology make them better suited for generating strength and power. They also grow larger than type one fibers and they contract faster, but they also fatigue much faster, which makes them less suited to those longer endurance activities. Now, because of these differences, bodybuilders have claimed for many years now that you can and even should selectively target these muscle fiber types with different styles of training techniques. One of the more common ones that is talked about is using higher reps and lower weights to maximally stimulate the type one muscle fibers and then using higher reps and lower weights to maximally stimulate the type 1 muscle
Starting point is 00:19:06 fibers and then using higher weight and lower reps to maximally activate the type 2 fibers. This way, they say you can gain as much muscle as quickly as possible. And while the theory behind this approach may sound reasonable, when you start to look beneath the hood, things get messy. First of all, the idea that different kinds of strength training preferentially stimulates different kinds of muscle fibers simply isn't true. Whether or not a muscle fiber type activates during your set depends more on how close you are to muscle failure than what rep range you use. In other words, as long as you finish your sets relatively close to failure, both heavy and light weights can stimulate both type 1 and type 2 muscle fibers equally well.
Starting point is 00:20:00 Dr. Brad Schoenfeld made this clear in one of the most comprehensive reviews on muscle growth to date, which was published in 2010 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. And in it, he says, quote, a fiber type prescription with respect to repetition range has not been borne out by research. Second, not all muscle fibers fit neatly into these type 1 and type 2 classifications. A large proportion of our muscle fibers share properties of both type 1 and type 2 cells. And these quote-unquote hybrid muscle fibers can adapt well to both strength and endurance activities. And what this means is it is more or less impossible to only target your type 1 or type 2 muscle fibers with different kinds of training or rep ranges.
Starting point is 00:20:51 The last problem with this idea of targeted muscle fiber type training is that most of the muscles in your body have a roughly even mix of type 1, type 2, and hybrid muscle fibers. Now, the calves are a notable exception because they tend to be about 60 to 90% type 1 muscle fiber. And this is why there are people like me out there who have calves that refuse to grow no matter how much you train them. If you do the following five things, you can gain all the muscle and strength that you want, assuming you don't have body dysmorphia. So the first is do lots of heavy compound strength training. The second is do a relatively small amount of cardio. The third is maintain a slight calorie surplus of five to 10%. The fourth is follow a high proteinprotein, high-carb diet.
Starting point is 00:21:47 And the fifth is take supplements that are proven to accelerate muscle gain. Let's review each of these steps in turn. So step one, do lots of heavy compound strength training. Now, there are many ways to train your muscles and many right ways to train your muscles. muscles and many right ways to train your muscles. But when the goal is gaining strength and gaining size as quickly as possible, nothing beats heavy compound weightlifting. This is better than workout machines, pump training or classes, bodyweight exercises, yoga, Pilates, and everything else you can do to develop more muscle definition. Now, what do I mean by this? Well, by heavy, I mean you should be working primarily with weights in the range of 75 to 85% of your one rep max, which generally
Starting point is 00:22:33 means working in the rep range of four to 12 reps. And I recommend that you work in the lower end of that rep range on your big compound lifts, which are the lifts that involve several major muscle groups and more than one joint, like the squat, deadlift, and bench press. On those exercises, I particularly recommend the rep range of four to six or five to seven, maybe even six to eight reps, which is going to be somewhere around 80 to 85% of your one rep max. And then on isolation exercises, which involve just one joint and one major muscle group, you can work with higher reps, less weight, somewhere closer to 75% of one rep max. Now, as far as routines go, there are many out there that you can follow that meet those criteria,
Starting point is 00:23:27 go. There are many out there that you can follow that meet those criteria, but I recommend that you start with a proven classic like the push-pull legs routine, which you can learn about over at muscleforlife.com if you search for push-pull legs. Or you can follow one of the programs in my books for men and women, bigger than you're stronger and thinner than you're stronger, which are built around a push-pull legs routine. All right. Well, that's it for the takeaways from the definitive and practical guide to muscle hypertrophy. If you want to learn more about the science of muscle growth, listen to the full episode and it was published on January 16th, 2019. And now let's get to the featured snippets from the third episode of this best of episode. And that is my top five takeaways from the 48 laws of power by Robert Green.
Starting point is 00:24:13 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. Okay, so let's move on to my top five takeaways from the 48 laws of power. So here's the first one quote, because most people are too imprisoned in the moment to plan with this kind of foresight, the ability to ignore immediate dangers and pleasures translates into power. It is the power of being able to overcome the natural human tendency to react to things as they happen and instead to train oneself to step back, imagining the larger things taking shape beyond one's immediate vision. Most people believe
Starting point is 00:25:07 that they are in fact aware of the future, that they are planning and thinking ahead. They are usually deluded. What they are really doing is succumbing to their desires, to what they want the future to be. Their plans are vague, based on their imaginations rather than their reality. They may believe they are thinking all the way to the end, but they are really only focusing on the happy ending and deluding themselves by the strength of their desire. So my note here is that one of the primary factors that has distinguished history's grand strategists is their singular focus on specific detailed goals. They spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating their goals, imagining how it will feel to accomplish them, and visualizing how they will unfold and what success will look like.
Starting point is 00:26:07 Napoleon was a good example of this. He believed that a strategist could create his own luck through calculation, planning, and flexibility. So in preparation for a campaign, for a military campaign, he would spend point to exact spots on maps where he predicted the final battles would end. And time and again, his prophecies proved uncannily correct. Now, while the stakes may be lower in our endeavors, we can still benefit greatly from a similar approach. We can channel a bit of Napoleon's power by clearly envisioning what we want to achieve, creating detailed and practical plans to realize our aims, and staying laser-focused on executing our schemes. Don't underestimate how big of a difference this can make in the quality of the long-term outcomes in your life. You see, very few people create and
Starting point is 00:27:35 follow concrete, calculated plans of any kind, really. Instead, they live in a myopic haze, taking things as they come and just hoping for the best. And that's why it's no surprise, at least to me, that so many people are so unsatisfied in their lives. Modern existence and our modern ambitions are just too big and too complex for this approach to work well. By meditating on the bigger pictures though, and by developing sensible strategies before setting out, you can greatly increase your chances of success. Okay, my second takeaway quote, recognize the fortunate so that you may choose their company and the unfortunate so that you may avoid them.
Starting point is 00:28:25 Misfortune is usually the crime of folly, and among those who suffer from it, there is no malady more contagious. Never open your door to the least of misfortunes, for if you do, many others will follow in its train. Do not die of another's misery. Okay, so my note here is one of the easiest ways to sabotage yourself is to associate with unhappy and unfortunate people. Now, I know that might sound harsh, but it is true regardless. Often, such people are not victims of mere circumstances they would have you believe, but are actively and often secretly working to bring disaster and misfortune on themselves and everyone around them. And even if someone doesn't consciously intend to drag others through the mud with them, remember that their moods, their attitudes, their ideas are infectious. The more you are around such people, the more likely you are to become collateral damage. Do not try to help them. Don't try to explain yourself or argue with them. And don't pass them off to friends. Simply cut your ties and flee.
Starting point is 00:29:57 To do anything else is to risk becoming deeply and painfully enmeshed in their woes. Now, there is also an obvious corollary here as well. corollary here as well, and it is that you should associate as much as you can with people who are a source of pleasure and happiness through their good cheer, their success, and their intelligence. If you do, you can then allow their positive qualities to infect, I say that in scare quotes, and uplift you. Quote, timidity is dangerous. Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold. No one honors the timid. So my note here is we all have our weaknesses and our plans and our efforts will never be perfect, but nothing can overcome those deficiencies like sheer audacity and velocity. Boldness and speed encourage, exhilarate, and empower us. They
Starting point is 00:30:57 build morale, they create a sense of vitality, and they attract attention and admiration from others. They're also effective tools to use against our opponents and our enemies to put them on their heels and force them to act reactively rather than proactively. As Napoleon once said, you must be slow in deliberation and swift in execution. Now, I think this is particularly true in business where you are not only working to outpace and outmaneuver your established competitors, the ones that you know about, but you have to also be protecting against incursions from startups who are looking to disrupt your success. Yes, you need to be able to think strategically and you need to be able to develop clear, practical, and feasible plans that span the
Starting point is 00:31:52 course of months and even years, but you also need to be able to shift into high gear and execute your plans swiftly and competently before their windows of opportunity close due to shifts in circumstances, competition, or otherwise. Whatever you do, you must not fall into the trap of waiting for everything to be just right before you get into action. And that applies just as much, I think, to any area of life as it does to business because conditions will never be just right. Perfect is just an excuse that we like to use to stay comfortable and to maintain the status quo. So we need to start now and adapt our plans as we go. And we need to remember that we will get further by leaning toward impetuousness rather than cautiousness. want to go check it out and listen to more of my musings on that book. And that's also all I have
Starting point is 00:33:05 for this episode of Muscle for Life. Thanks again for joining me. And as always, I have a lot more good stuff to come. I have a new Q&A coming tomorrow where I talk about vocabulary building, vegetable oils, and one meal a day. OMAD, as the cool kids call it. And then next week, I'm going to be talking about hyperventilating in your workouts to be stronger safely. I know it sounds a little bit wild, but it works and you'll learn about it next week. And I also have an interview with my mom about how she used Thinner Leaner Stronger to lose 11 pounds of fat and double her whole body strength, as well as another episode of Says You, where I address a few challenges, friendly challenges from readers and followers, things that people disagree with me on. Those are always fun. All right, well,
Starting point is 00:33:52 that's it for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did and you don't mind doing me a favor, please do leave a quick review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to me from in whichever app you're listening to me in, because that not only convinces people that they should check out the show, it also increases search visibility and thus it helps more people find their way to me and learn how to get fitter, leaner, stronger, healthier, and happier as well. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then simply subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any new stuff. And if you didn't like something about the show, please do shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com, just muscle, F-O-R, life.com,
Starting point is 00:34:45 me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com, just muscle, F-O-R, life.com, and share your thoughts on how I can do this better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback, even if it is criticism. I'm open to it. And of course, you can email me if you have positive feedback as well, or if you have questions really relating to anything that you think I could help you with, definitely send me an email. That is the best way to get ahold of me, mikeatmusclefullife.com. And that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode. And I hope to hear from you soon.

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