GENTLE FITNESS ADVICE

Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews

So much fitness advice is framed like this:

FACT CHECK LOSER. IF YOU CAN’T WAKE UP AT 3 AM AND DEADLIFT DOUBLE YOUR BODY WEIGHT FOR DOUBLES IN YOUR DRIVEWAY IN THE DEAD OF WINTER, UNFOLLOW ME ALREADY BECAUSE YOU’LL ALWAYS BE WEAK, FAT, AND PATHETIC. LGBFJBLFG!!!!!!

I’ve shared plenty of tough love myself. Make excuses or make it go, “secrets” never work unless you work for them, train hard even when the motivation carcass is being picked by crows, whatever. Here, however, I want to talk to you in gentler tones about fitness.

Why?

Although fitness requires work and effort and sometimes feels like a stormy love affair that you just can’t quit, too much lectern-pounding bust-your-assery can hold you back and even burn you out.

The key is balance, in knowing when to steam and when to stroll, when to brace up and bear down and when to back off and breathe. Go, go, go versus slow, slow, slow.

And that balance is often hard to find in the fitness racket. Everywhere you turn there’s another hard-faced hardo bellowing about cooking up the suck and injecting it into your veins so you can earn the aftermath one sweat brick at a time.

So, with grumpy mugs and slash-and-burn sermons in more-than-ample supply these days, I want to offer a counterpoint—a few gentle fitness reminders that acknowledge that sometimes you need to growl and gut it out, and sometimes you need to grin and give more leash.

Press play to hear my advice!

Timestamps:

0:00 - Pre-order my new fitness book now for a chance to win over $12,000 in splendid swag:

https://www.muscleforlifebook.com/

3:18 - Intro

5:34 - Train at your own pace.

5:54 - It’s okay to feel like you don’t know what you’re doing.

6:13 - There is no one way to get fit.

6:32 - Even a little can go a long way.

6:50 - Sometimes you have to drag your draggy body through a spate of not-great workouts before you have a great one again.

7:08 - Some days are easier, and some are harder.

7:24 - Whether it's your first year or fourteenth, workouts will feel awful sometimes.

7:39 - You don’t have to hit a PR to have a fitness win.

7:56 - Comparing yourself to others is a sure way to feel lousy.

8:20 - Unswerving faith in the process isn't essential to performing the process.

8:41 - Whatever works for you is valid.

9:03 - Your motivation is an ocean.

Mentioned on the Show:

Pre-order my new fitness book now for a chance to win over $12,000 in splendid swag:

https://www.muscleforlifebook.com/