Mike Matthews is the CEO of Legion Athletics and bestselling writer of numerous fitness books. He’s also a no-BS kind of guy who isn’t afraid to call out what he thinks are shortcomings in the supplement industry. Mike joins us for a candid conversation that touches on beginner gains, marketing falsehoods, and the limits of natural performance.
In this episode of The BarBend Podcast, guest Mike Matthews and host David Thomas Tao discuss:
- David thinks Mike is the “Swiss Army Knife” of fitness (1:45)
- Levels of attractiveness and physical perception/aspirations in fitness (4:45)
- Making gym friends and why fitness brings folks out of their shells (6:50)
- Mike’s early (and very under-optimized) days of training (9:00)
- Early days of sorting through the fluff in online fitness (13:20)
- Applying human-conceived notions to biology (15:34)
- The limits of training volume for natural athletes (18:00)
- Mike’s thoughts on performance enhancing drugs and strength athletics (21:45)
- Mike talks about his thoughts on the limits of natural performance (26:30)
- What non-banned supplements can and CANNOT do for performance (28:25)
- The cost of supplement formulation and production (31:30)
- The products Mike and Legion haven’t been able to make work (34:20)
- David’s less-than-feasible idea to fix Mike’s formulation problems (36:00)
- Finding great people in evidence-based fitness (41:00)
- Reformulating supplements (43:00)
Relevant links and further reading:
- Follow Mike on Instagram and Twitter
- Check out our review of Legion’s Whey+ and Pulse Pre Workout
