Ep. #1183: How My Coaching Helped Matt Lose 24 lb. in 24 Weeks

Matt Poepsel: [00:00:00] My sort of confidence that I could stick to my workouts, hit the nutrition—which is what has fallen apart for me in the past—was off the charts. And even while I’m there in Denver, we’re like, going back and forth through the app and saying, okay, this part worked great. I got to modify this.

Matt Poepsel: And it feels, again, like having that coach in your corner. For me, it made all the difference to not only break through that original plateau of a little bit of weight loss, but to develop the knowledge and the confidence to be able to handle some of the different sort of surprises that, that, that happened.

Mike Matthews: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Muscle for Life, and Happy New Year, which is belated by the time you’re hearing this, but it is January 1st when I am recording this introduction to the episode, so Happy New Year. And in this episode, you are going to be hearing from Matt, who, over 24 weeks, lost 24 pounds.

Mike Matthews: And some of that was achieved on his own. He read my book, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, [00:01:00] and he started there, started getting results, and then transitioned into my one-on-one coaching service—or I should say Legion’s one-on-one coaching service. My sports nutrition company also offers coaching. And as you will hear in this episode, Matt had various obstacles he had to overcome in his transformation.

Mike Matthews: Like, for example, traveling for work—he travels a lot for his work—and so he’s had to figure out how to maintain his workouts and how to maintain the right eating habits while traveling. He had kidney stone surgery and had to work around that. There was a bit of recovery there. And he had to figure out how to rediscover his love for fitness and how to figure out a regimen that he genuinely enjoyed at age 53, which can be different than when you are 25 because your motivations change, and what you are willing to subject your body to changes.

Mike Matthews: And in some cases, what you can subject your body [00:02:00] to changes. And so, in this episode, you’re going to hear Matt’s story from him. Of course, he’s going to share the ups and downs of his journey. He’s going to talk about what worked well for him, what did not work so well for him, and what modifications he had to make to your standard prescriptions for diet, training, and supplementation.

Mike Matthews: And how he worked out a lifestyle that works for him, that allows him to achieve and maintain his body composition and health goals for the long term. Before we get going with today’s episode, I need to tell you about my one-on-one coaching program, which might be for you if you are feeling 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.

Mike Matthews: And I know what that’s like. I’ve been there. It can be very frustrating. It can even make you feel a little bit crazy. You try, [00:03:00] and you try, and then, when those things don’t work, you try something else. You jump onto the new diet, the new workout plan, and then, when you give your all to the newest things that don’t work, you finally feel like giving up. Or maybe you can muster the will to keep the cycle going, but either way, you remain stuck.

Mike Matthews: And this is how people can go to the gym for years, how they can eat well—at least well enough—they can take good supplements, and still look more or less the same as when they started. And 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.

Mike Matthews: And it starts with this. The biggest thing that I see with the people that we help is this: They are often missing just one crucial piece of the puzzle. And I bet it’s the same [00:04:00] with you. You are probably doing a lot of things right. However, there’s probably something you are not doing right that is giving you most of the grief.

Mike Matthews: 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, though, 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.

Mike Matthews: That’s when you start making serious progress. And 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. And in her words, quote, “I’m in the best physical appearance of my life at age 45, and I have more energy and confidence.”

Mike Matthews: I feel like [00:05:00] I found the secret to success. And 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 also gaining over 50 pounds on his key lifts. And he did those things also in just 90 days. And 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 to eat.

Mike Matthews: And in her words, quote, “rarely feeling hungry.” Now 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 like typing in a password to log into your computer.

Mike Matthews: You could have all the letters, numbers, symbols, and so forth except one. And then what happens? [00:06:00] You can’t log in, right? But, as soon as you get that last remaining character right—voilà—you are in business. And if I’ve learned anything from the thousands of success stories that we’ve racked up over the years, it’s this:

Mike Matthews: You too are probably just one major shift, one important insight, 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. And if you want some help figuring out what that one thing is—that one thing that’s missing for you—then my one-on-one coaching service might be for you.

Mike Matthews: 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. And if you want to see if my coaching service is right for you, go to buylegion.com/coaching. That’s buylegion.com/coaching, and schedule your free consultation call so my team can learn about you, your goals, [00:07:00] your lifestyle, and then so the both of you can determine if the program is right for you.

Mike Matthews: And by the way, there are people we speak with who are not a good fit for the program. That does happen, but we almost always have other experts and other resources to refer them to. And then, if the program makes sense to you, you sign up, you show up every day, you do the work, and then we guarantee your results, or you get your money back.

Mike Matthews: So again, if you are still listening to this and are 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.

Mike Matthews: Hey, Matt, thank you for taking some time out of your afternoon—maybe morning. I don’t know if you’re actually West Coast—but taking some time out of your day to come talk to me.

Matt Poepsel: My pleasure, Mike. Love it. Love it. Yeah. I’m here on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, so I’m East Coast firmly in the afternoon for this conversation. [00:08:00]

Mike Matthews: Nice. These discussions, as I was saying offline, I like them to be just an open-ended discussion of, in this case, your fitness journey. Maybe we could start with a kind of snapshot—a before and after results snapshot—just for people listening so they can understand that.

Mike Matthews: For context, and then from there, we can maybe go back to where you were at before you found me and my work. What were you trying to do? What was working for you? What was not working for you? And then we’ll just move forward from there.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, that sounds great. I had this big fitness goal over the summer of last year.

Matt Poepsel: My son and I, we climbed Grand Teton, which was amazing. We were able to summit, and it was great. But then as I came down off the mountain—that was in July—I had a long winter. This would have been into 2024, reaching for the snacks, doing the off-schedule eating. It gets dark here, a lot of emotional kind of eating.

Matt Poepsel: By May, I thought, “I just don’t really feel great in my body. I’m not really where I want to be fitness-wise.” Since then, I started on my own and eventually went pretty deep with some of the different products and services from your world.

Matt Poepsel: I dropped 24 pounds in 24 weeks and have just really felt great about it. It’s been—it’s really been an incredible journey in the most recent bit.

Mike Matthews: That’s fantastic. And how has your performance in your strength training progressed over that period?

Matt Poepsel: It’s probably the biggest surprise because the reason that I started losing weight was I was coming into the spring with a fresh mindset.

Matt Poepsel: I lost the first five or seven pounds. I could tell by looking at myself that I was not in great shape, but I hadn’t really totally fallen apart. The first five to seven pounds came off, and then I hit this plateau. I thought, “I cannot seem to lose any more damn weight. I don’t know what’s happening here.”

Matt Poepsel: So when I started to say, “You know what? You don’t know how to eat. You’ve never learned about any of the things when it comes to nutrition,” I said, “I’m going to have to find some help.” So, I started to look more back into things, and I went right back to Bigger, Leaner, Stronger.

Matt Poepsel: I started looking at all these things, and I thought, “I’m going to really learn how to eat. This is going to be great.” But there’s a long way of answering your question, which is that the actual strength benefits and the changes to my workouts that I was able to make as a result were probably the biggest surprise for me.

Matt Poepsel: Because I thought, “I know how to lift. Come on. I got Arnold’s encyclopedia from the seventies and eighties. Like, I don’t know what I’m doing in the gym?” Turns out, I didn’t know anything. So that’s been a big, fun part of the journey as well.

Mike Matthews: Yeah, no knock on Arnold’s book, but I remember I was in my twenties when I first went through that book and started trying to work out the programs. And if I remember, even the novice program was—I don’t remember the exact volume—like a high-volume, high-intensity program. That was the novice program. And then the advanced program was essentially impossible. I don’t think I ever got to it. I think I attempted the [00:11:00] intermediate. And even in my twenties, when you’re physiologically invincible, I couldn’t do it. At the time, I didn’t exactly know why—now I know why, but…

Matt Poepsel: And that was what I was experiencing too, because I went back to what I knew. So, when you think about it, I went to high school in the eighties, and I graduated toward the end of the eighties, and so this was Arnold’s heyday. I picked up the book, and all the other muscle heads were lifting in the gym, getting good results but still didn’t know what the hell we were doing.

Matt Poepsel: And then I come back to it all this time later, and I’m 53 now. Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it’s the best fit. I started to realize I wasn’t necessarily getting the gains that I wanted anymore. Going from a plateau of being a little bit marshmallowy to reasonably fit—that part I could do on my own.

Matt Poepsel: But I never had confidence. And that’s when I said, “You know what? I got to go back to this book that I had on my shelf from—at that point—a long time ago,” which was Bigger, Leaner, Stronger. I’d love to talk about that. I can remember the moment I went down to my basement and grabbed it because I’d had it for quite a while. [00:12:00] I had to look it up, but I picked up my first copy in 2017. I started looking at it and thought, “This is exactly right.”

Matt Poepsel: There was only one problem: it was completely overwhelming to me. I thought, “I don’t have the time necessarily to absorb all this great information.” I’ve got the big job; my family’s grown now, but I’m just constantly busy. I said, “I wonder if Mike’s got something that can help me even more than the book.” Only this year was the first time I went and found everything from meal plans, and I was like, “Okay, yep, I can see where this would help.” And then I found the coaching, and I thought, “You know what? I’m going to look into this.”

Mike Matthews: Yeah, I’ve tried to make the book as easy to apply as possible. That was really my focus, especially with this most recent fourth edition, where I rearranged it even more and made it clear up front that if you just want to skip to what to do—and you don’t really care to even understand why you’re doing it—although I’d recommend that you get around to learning the why. You don’t want to [00:13:00] be completely in the dark. You don’t want to feel like this is a black box, even if it’s working.

Mike Matthews: But if you just want to get going, then just read these chapters, download the bonus material—all the workouts are in there, meal plans are in there—you can get going. But if you want it to be even more convenient and just take all the guesswork out, that’s why I launched the coaching service in the first place. I would personally get asked often if I took on clients because I started Legion early on.

Mike Matthews: That was 2014, I think, year one. My work quickly piled up on that side, and so I just couldn’t justify—even to myself—taking the time. And then, how do I even price that? And so that’s how it came about, though. It really is, I think, an underutilized shortcut in just many areas of life: seeking out people who [00:14:00] you feel have proven their expertise and have a system that is going to help you get to whatever you want to get to.

Mike Matthews: And then, can you pay money to just make it a lot easier, take a lot of work off of your plate, and just make it faster?

Matt Poepsel: And you nailed it right there. There was so much misinformation out there. And I knew from back being exposed to your work in 2015—cookbook in 2017—when I purchased my first copy of Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, I was like, “This makes total sense.” I’m using the Stacked app, I’m doing all this stuff, and I’m like, “This totally is a great fit.”

Matt Poepsel: When it came back to this more recent time, I thought, “Okay, I need to get back and bone up on this again. I’ve forgotten everything, and I don’t feel like I ever really did learn how to eat properly.” And it wasn’t anything to do with the information—it was just trying to assimilate it into my life. I thought, “Oh, I’ve got a coach to help me with my keynote speeches. I’ve got health coaches, like a massage therapist, to help me with some headaches I’ve been having.”

Matt Poepsel: And I thought, “Man, why am I not willing to pay?” I’d never heard about the service. But when I looked at it, I said, “You [00:15:00] know what? This is a total no-brainer because I want my performance in all aspects of my life to be super high.” So it would just fast-forward me through these parts. And the biggest thing came back to confidence.

Matt Poepsel: Mike, I’ve got a lot of dumb-ass questions. So, knowing there was somebody on the other end of the line, I could say, “Can I ask you an off-the-wall question?” It was exactly what I needed. And it helped me not only just break through that first plateau but also carried a lot of surprises with me. I could go on and on about it.

Mike Matthews: Asking questions is another good point, especially if somebody is spending a fair amount of time consuming other material—whether it’s watching YouTube videos or consuming content on social media, specifically health and fitness content. And the reason I say that is because, as you mentioned, there is so much misinformation.

Mike Matthews: A lot of the most effective—if you can call it that—misinformation is very well marketed. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so effective. And so it’s naive for someone to [00:16:00] think that because they’re smart, well-educated, and even understand critical thinking, they won’t be susceptible to misinformation. That’s a little bit naive because, again, the best misinformation is very well marketed.

Mike Matthews: A lot of it really does, quote-unquote, “make sense.” A lot of it has a scientific air about it. And if you go down those rabbit holes, you can find a lot of “expert consensus” even on this misinformation. And so it can be difficult to sort through, especially if you’re a layman—especially if you’re time-crunched and don’t really care to spend large amounts of time researching. You just want to get to your goal as efficiently as possible.

Mike Matthews: You just want to know as much as you need to know to get into good shape, stay in good shape, and maybe from there, make some optimizations. But again, I’m just putting words in your mouth—this is what I’m hearing. And I understand it because I’ve seen [00:17:00] it so many times, especially with busy people.

Mike Matthews: If they can skip having to sort through a lot of the misinformation, and if they have someone they can go to and say, “Hey, I heard this—just give me the quick answer.” Nope, that’s not correct. Here’s why. “Great, thank you. Next thing. What about this carnivore diet thing?” “Here’s why I don’t recommend it.”

Mike Matthews: Okay, great. Thank you, et cetera, et cetera.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think it’s one of those situations where, when you look at how much information is out there, a lot of what gets peddled is some “new breakthrough,” and yet our bodies haven’t fundamentally changed.

Mike Matthews: Something they aren’t telling you?

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, exactly. “Here’s the thing we’ve discovered.” And I thought, “You know what? I don’t necessarily— I know there are advancements in techniques and these things—but I wanted a coach who would almost protect me from a lot of the ‘new stuff’ and techniques versus the old stuff or the bombastic stuff, right?”

Matt Poepsel: So, the first thing—what happened was this: I got to the point where I thought, “Okay, I definitely feel super at home with all of my reading and thinking. I like the meal plans, but I think I’m going to make the investment to go ahead and help myself break through. I want somebody in my corner, the way I have in these other parts of my life. I think this is really going to be a good fit for me.”

Matt Poepsel: When I first started working on it again, I wasn’t in great shape, but I never really fell out of shape. So when I say I lost 24 pounds, it was a pretty big progress for me. I didn’t have a lot of extra weight to lose—I had that amount to lose. By May, I thought, “Okay, I’m fine.” June came, and toward the end of June, I said, “I’m making a commitment.” I went ahead, signed up, got introduced to my coach, and I asked her, “How are you going to help me put on a little bit of lean mass and continue to thin out? I’ve hit this plateau.”

Matt Poepsel: She said, “You’re going to eat real food, you’re going to sleep—what are you talking about?—and you’re going to train. You’re going to do what I tell you.” And I thought, “This is fabulous. This is absolutely fabulous,” because I totally believed it. But what I didn’t have, Mike, was the confidence that I could figure it out on my own.

Matt Poepsel: It wasn’t because your information wasn’t good. It wasn’t because I’m not disciplined. There was just this blockage of saying, “I don’t have the time or energy to experiment. I want fast results.” When she told me, “I’m going to put your workouts into this app,” I thought, “Did you not hear me when I just said I had Arnold’s encyclopedia? I know how to work out.”

Matt Poepsel: She said, “No, you’re going to start doing these workouts.” I thought, “I have not worked out this hard in my life.” Suddenly, I’ve got set times of rest between sets, workouts with exercises I’ve never done—nothing ridiculous—and I’m not in there for more than 45 minutes or so. But I thought, “This is real. This is what it feels like to actually know what you’re doing in the gym.” That bit of confidence came as a total surprise to me because I thought I knew that part. I knew I’d learn from the nutrition side, but I was just blown away at how it all fit together.

Mike Matthews: Let’s talk about the nutrition. What approach worked for you? Because it sounds like you’re busy—it sounds like there might be traveling involved, especially if you’re doing keynote speeches. Can you talk to us about how you took what I’ve put in my books? I’ve tried to give people a very flexible system that’s not one-size-fits-all but at least one-size-fits-many, and that you can adjust.

Mike Matthews: But then, of course, with coaching, one of the benefits is we get to know you, your exact circumstances, your preferences, and then play with things until it’s exactly the way that you need it. So, can you talk to us about the nutrition—what you had to work through and what you found worked best for you?

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, my coach Heather started me off by saying, “We’re going to try some things. We’re going to see how you respond, knowing that we’ll dial things in.” This had everything to do with my own eating preferences—where I still experienced any sort of challenges with sticking to certain parts of the program.

Matt Poepsel: I tend to be a very regimented person, so for me, it’s a little bit easier to stick to a plan once we’ve established it. One of the first things she had to do was learn my dietary situation and restrictions. I’m vegetarian, though I do have eggs and cheese, which really opens it up quite a bit.

Matt Poepsel: But there are still some restrictions there. So the first thing she did was build me a meal plan and say, “You’re not going to necessarily love all these different options, but we need to try them to see what you like and what you don’t.” Before I had met her, I was consuming probably four or five scoops of protein powder a day—just almost using it like a meal replacement, right?

Matt Poepsel: She said, “You’ve got to stop that. You can have a little bit, but we need to get you onto real protein. You need to have soy and dairy and all these things.” And setting my targets—I use MyFitnessPal as my tracker—she could see all of it, so it was able to carry over into the app. We could see where I was at with my tracking.

Matt Poepsel: I was weighing in every day at this point and setting targets for these things. And what I came to find was that I was learning about my habits. [00:22:00] Oh, I see—when I thought peanut butter had good protein in it, it comes at a cost.

Mike Matthews: That’s a joke that I’ve recycled on social media a number of times. “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but peanut butter is not a good source of protein.”

Mike Matthews: There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s not a good source of protein.

Matt Poepsel: But when you’re a high school wrestler in the eighties, living off of it, those habits die hard. You’re like, “Oh, I’ll just put it between these two pieces of healthy bread.” Guess what? When you start dialing in your macros, you realize, “Oh, wait a second. I’ve got to change some of these things up.”

Matt Poepsel: The other thing that really changed for me immediately was looking at snacks. Yes, I still have to have snacks. Personally, I’m so regimented that I try to have my snacks at 10 o’clock, 2 o’clock—it keeps it round and easy for me. But what changed, Mike, was starting with protein in the snack.

Matt Poepsel: She got me onto things like cottage cheese with some berries or having a little bit of nonfat yogurt with half a scoop of protein powder in it—just to knock it up a bit more if I feel like I need to close the [00:23:00] gap on some protein. I realized snacks aren’t for my entertainment. They’re really about trying to round out and break up the hunger, sure, but also with a thoughtful plan.

Matt Poepsel: And the last thing I’ll say on protein is preconfiguring what I know I’m going to have for dinner or an after-dinner snack. Working back from there and realizing, “Oh, that’s actually not going to fit. I need to change that a little bit or have half of this portion,” really helped me understand how to dial in what was otherwise mindless eating or overeating in certain places—or just not being strategic about it.

Mike Matthews: The high-protein snacking is a great tip for anyone struggling with snacking. There’s nothing wrong with having snacks, but like Matt said, it’s best if it’s part of your plan. Around this time of day—for me, I like to have a snack after we do this, around 3 or 3:30. I eat lunch around 12:30—usually a salad with some chicken or something like that—and then I’ll eat dinner around 6. So, I like to have something in the middle.

Mike Matthews: I also have a snack after dinner. I like to do that—a higher-carbohydrate snack. These days, I’m doing overnight oats. It’s really a mixed meal—some carbs with some almond milk and some protein powder mixed into it, overnight oats style. [00:24:00] I find that having some carbs—it’s a mixed meal—can help with sleep. My guess is it’s because my diet is probably about 250 to 300 grams of carbs per day, which might sound like a higher-carb diet to some people, but it’s really not, especially if you’re physically active.

Mike Matthews: Two hundred grams would be considered a low-carb diet in terms of sports nutrition. So, I find that having that mixed meal about an hour before bed improves my sleep quality. A reason for that is definitely a thing, and I’m guessing, based on blood work from what I’ve seen, it just keeps my blood sugar levels a little bit higher while I’m sleeping.

Mike Matthews: If your blood sugar gets too low—and I don’t have problems with low blood sugar—but if it starts to get toward the low end of physiological normal, that can disrupt sleep. So that’s a snack that I have.

Mike Matthews: Coming back to what you’re saying—if you’re going to snack, including protein or making protein the staple of the snack can go a long way in supporting your body composition. It helps you get enough protein and prevents overeating, especially overeating dietary fat, which is most readily converted into body fat and is just not very filling as a primary macro in a meal.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, it just gave me so much more confidence to know what I was getting into. I learned a lot about foods I had been consuming naturally. When I started typing them in, I realized, “Oh my gosh, this is actually going to throw me off in some other way if I keep eating this way.” That was pretty important.

Matt Poepsel: But you also bring up a great point about sleep. She was asking me, “How are you sleeping as we’re making these changes?” I thought, “What an interesting question,” [00:26:00] but it’s a good one, right? Because if we’re doing something that disrupts our sleep, then we’re not getting the recuperation we need. We’re not going to stick with something. Or we’re going to be more prone to being tired.

Mike Matthews: And then you’re reaching for something you probably didn’t want to.

Matt Poepsel: Exactly.

Mike Matthews: It increases hunger.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, there you go. That led me to ask her one of those questions where I thought, “I don’t even know how to Google this.” I said, “Does it matter when I eat as long as I hit my counts?” Because I like to unwind after I’m done with all my Zooms and have had my dinner. I want something to look forward to when I relax.

Matt Poepsel: Another great example— instead of reaching for ice cream, cookies, and cakes, I found yogurt bars, like the Yasso ones. They’re 100 calories, have a little protein, and feel like a sweet treat. They’re great. All of a sudden, I realized, “Wow, okay, I don’t miss the other thing.” I’ve replaced it with something else.

Matt Poepsel: The very last thing I might have before heading off to bed is a mandarin orange or two. I thought, “Okay, great, I’ve got room for it. It tastes good—whatever.” I asked her, “Does the timing matter? I’ve heard you’re not supposed to eat before you go swimming. Does it matter before you go to bed?” It was just one more example of having someone at my fingertips to answer whatever question I had, and I really benefited from that.

Mike Matthews: For anybody listening who doesn’t know—no, it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about body composition. It doesn’t matter. Now, if you eat a large meal right before bed, it’s probably going to disrupt your sleep. We’ve all experienced that. Otherwise, it’s more or less about the meal timing schedule that works best for you.

Mike Matthews: For anyone experiencing sleep issues—if you generally eat a lower-carb diet, which is between 200 and 300 grams of carbs per day if you’re fairly active—you may find that adding a smaller mixed meal, primarily carbs (ideally slower-digesting ones), about an hour before bed can help with sleep.

Matt Poepsel: And even rounding it out, I can think about one of the very first conversations we had. She said, “Run down your list of what you’re taking now in terms of supplements, nutrition, vitamins—all of it.” I said, “I’m over 50, so I’m taking a Centrum Silver.” She started laughing, and I said, “Okay, what else?”

Matt Poepsel: We got on the topic of omega-3s, and she said, “You’re vegetarian, so let me send you a link to this vegan version of an omega-3 that my clients seem to like.” I thought, “Wow, great, that’s one less thing I have to worry about.”

Mike Matthews: We actually have that on a list. I’d like to produce that product, but it’s on a list for market research to make sure the economics even work. If I remember correctly, is it algae-based?

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, I think that’s right. Little things like that—being able to say, “I’m not exactly sure what I should be taking and how to pull it all together”—really helped.

Matt Poepsel: One of the other things you mentioned was traveling. This is where you see disruptions to life, whether it’s the holidays or travel. I ended up on this trip to Denver. I told her about it and said, “I want to make sure I’m prepared. I won’t be able to go to my normal home gym, but I have a nationwide membership.” I already looked it up, knew where it was from the hotel, and had a rental car.

Matt Poepsel: We started talking about nutrition. She said, “Okay, I’ve done some research. Here are some local health food-style stores near your hotel.” We also strategized about restaurants that probably have decent options. So we were strategizing before I even got there.

Matt Poepsel: How much more confident am I going to stick to my plan when I’ve looked ahead of time? I even went on Google Street View to make sure I knew what these places looked like. My confidence to stick to my workouts and hit my nutrition—which had fallen apart for me in the past—was off the charts. Even while I was in Denver, we were going back and forth through the app, saying, “Okay, this part worked great; I’ve got to modify this.”

Matt Poepsel: It felt like having that coach in my corner made all the difference. Not only did it help me break through that original plateau of a little weight loss, but it also gave me the knowledge and confidence to handle different surprises that came up.

Mike Matthews: How did you end up handling your nutrition on that trip? Travel is a common disruptor.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah. So, I’m not from the West Coast, but there was a Sprouts—a store that’s a little bit like a Whole Foods, maybe a bit more localized. I went in and found that they had protein packets, not the full canisters, which was perfect since I’d have to fly home. I was only there for a day or two.

Matt Poepsel: I got exactly what I needed there—fresh fruit and vegetables that I could put in my hotel fridge. We had talked about that beforehand. When I did have to eat at a restaurant, we had already discussed which meals to go for based on my schedule. It all fit together so nicely.

Matt Poepsel: So now imagine—I’m flying home, I haven’t weighed myself in a couple of days because I didn’t have a scale, and I’m actually looking forward to weighing myself. I ended up losing weight on that trip, where normally I would have been eating hotel room service and maybe getting the extra slice because I’d had a long day—all those kinds of things.

Matt Poepsel: All of that was out the window. I stayed on track.

Mike Matthews: We will resume today’s episode shortly, but first, I need to tell you about my bestselling fitness mindset manual for breaking through mental resistance and barriers, building unshakable discipline, and keeping your goals alive when things get tough. It’s called The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation.

Mike Matthews: While fitness is not everything, everything is harder if you aren’t fit. Because the muscle and strength you gain from working out is less important than the person you become by working out.

Mike Matthews: You become a person who understands that growing into the best version of themselves necessarily includes getting into great shape. And you become a person who never underestimates the power of simply believing in themselves and always looks for reasons to bet on their hand.

Mike Matthews: You become a [00:32:00] person who realizes that they can achieve far more than they thought they were capable of. That’s why I wrote The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation—to help you become that person by sharing insights from scientific research, compelling stories, and practical strategies for staying motivated when setbacks, failure, and self-doubt make you want to give up.

Mike Matthews: And so, here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll find inside The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation.

Mike Matthews: The what, when, where, if, then formula that will rewire your thinking for more consistency inside and outside of the gym. Three simple questions that will reveal your true why for fitness and unlock a wellspring of motivation that will keep you going even when it’s hard.

Mike Matthews: How to stop sabotaging your personal growth habits with complaining and negativity, and how to develop a solution-oriented mindset that will empower you [00:33:00] to take action and keep taking action. Warren Buffett’s two-list strategy for prioritizing your goals, eliminating distractions, and achieving laser focus and maximum productivity.

Mike Matthews: How to use productive pessimism to avoid what scientists call the “positivity paradox” and cultivate a balanced mindset that will turn self-doubt into self-belief, and much more.

Mike Matthews: So, look, the bottom line is this: Getting fit is like doing anything that most people fail at. It is harder than you think it will be. It will take longer than you think it will take. You will make way more mistakes than you want to make. But there’s also this: you can’t fail unless you give up.

Mike Matthews: So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed in your fitness—if you are struggling with laziness, procrastination, or self-doubt—if you are trying to reignite your passion for working out [00:34:00], and if you’d like some strategies for developing a resilient mindset that will empower you to stick with your fitness for the long haul (because that’s the ultimate goal—not just to get into shape, but to stay in shape for the rest of our lives), then head over to Amazon now and pick up a copy of The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation and enjoy.

Mike Matthews: How have you handled alcohol? Do you drink, and if so, how did you work that in?

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, so unfortunately for me, I quit drinking back in 2020, so I’ve not had that to contend with. For me, the biggest challenge was, again, the sweets.

Mike Matthews: Okay, that was my next question, then—how did you work in treats without letting it get out of hand?

Matt Poepsel: And on the alcohol thing, while I don’t drink anymore, I’ve seen on your site and in other places that if you are going to drink, you can still count that intake as long as you know what’s in it. You can accommodate for it. You can’t just drink everything, or eat everything, but you have to account for it.

Matt Poepsel: I think a lot of people worry that it’s going to be so restrictive. The reality is that you have to put yourself into a deficit, which I learned how to do, but not such a deficit that it’s going to lead to binging or a rebound. I learned how much was enough and how to stick with and sustain that.

Matt Poepsel: If I had a situation where I was going out for a work meeting or something, I knew how to be smart about it—maybe pull back a little earlier in the day, make a healthier choice, have the salad instead of the pizza, whatever it might be. Or, if I felt like having pizza, fine—have the pizza. Who cares? Don’t blow your whole week just because you had one night out.

Mike Matthews: Absolutely. And with the sweets—you mentioned the Yasso bars. That’s an easy solution for something tasty with better macros, low sugar, and lower calories. Were there any other accommodations for treat meals, cheat meals, or any other types of sweets that you felt like you needed to keep in your plan?

Matt Poepsel: Not 100%, although almost the opposite. She had asked me, “You’ve been in a deficit here for a little bit. Have you had any plans around treating yourself to something?” I said, “No, I haven’t. I’ve just been sticking with it.” She said, “At some point, you’ve made so much progress—you really need to think about how you’re going to bring it back.”

Matt Poepsel: She explained, “Still count it. It has to fit within your numbers, but you don’t want to restrict yourself too much and end up going through several days of a bender, so to speak.” I remember texting her, saying, “I had a piece of cake! I’m so excited!” I happened to be in New York and wanted to have a slice of cheesecake since I was there. She said, “That’s great.” She was helping me celebrate the fact that I had accounted for it, planned for it, and enjoyed it.

Matt Poepsel: I look forward to it. I enjoyed it. Those are all fine things to do. After having been in a deficit for so long, going back to maintenance—and then later, even bulking and all those kinds of things—felt like a good progression. But for now, [00:37:00] I’m still just really enjoying being in my body, knowing how it feels when I feel tighter, and feeling confident because I know what I’m going to do.

Matt Poepsel: I execute my plan, and I look forward to getting on the scale the next day. Those things weren’t happening before I met her. I probably could have gotten there on my own—I certainly had your information—but not as quickly and not without all the deviations.

Mike Matthews: It’s funny you mention that—regarding not even feeling the need to celebrate until some point, when you’re like, “Okay, I want some cheesecake, so I’m going to have the cheesecake and that’ll be my celebration.” That is such a common experience for people who are maybe new to this or haven’t even started yet and are concerned because it sounds so constrained.

Mike Matthews: Many people think, “Good for you, Matt. You were able to do it, but I wouldn’t be able to stick to a plan.” Even though they know they don’t have to be perfect, they don’t think they can stick to a plan with sufficient discipline to get results. [00:38:00]

Mike Matthews: I’ve seen so many people go from the complete opposite of proper nutrition—terrible food choices all the time, alcohol, no exercise—to exactly what you’re describing. They never thought they could be that person. Confidence and understanding seem to be the key factors. For the first time, they felt like they actually understood how nutrition works. They understood the first principles—the 20% that gives you 80% of the results.

Mike Matthews: Once it made sense to them, they put it into practice. They started seeing results. From there, they naturally lost the desire to eat and drink the way they were before—not from a place of compulsion or self-loathing, but just a positive shift. They liked the new direction more.

Matt Poepsel: [00:39:00] 100%. That’s what happened for me when I quit drinking. I realized that my morning routine—sitting, reading, meditating—is such a beautiful way for me to start my day. I enjoyed that so much more than feeling groggy because I’d had a few the night before. So I just cut it out entirely and haven’t missed it.

Matt Poepsel: With food, it’s been a little different. When I’m stressed or when the days get shorter with time changes, there’s still that nagging, “Oh, come on, just have the extra slice of cake.” That’s stuck with me a bit longer. But feeling like I’m on a plan and a program helps.

Matt Poepsel: I’ll tell you something else that happened during my coaching that I hadn’t expected. I developed a kidney stone and ended up needing surgery. I told my coach, “Hey, guess what? This happened. I can still go to the gym—I’m not in a ton of discomfort—but I’ve got to modify things.” How would I have navigated that on my own? Absolutely no idea.

Matt Poepsel: During workouts, you have these down periods. What do you call it when you take a week that’s less intense after several weeks?

Mike Matthews: Yeah, like a deload?

Matt Poepsel: Exactly, a deload. Perfect. I said, “I’ve got a deload coming up, and I’m about to have surgery. What do you think about using my recovery week as a deload?” She helped me take the pressure off myself, saying, “Live to lift another day. Let’s get you healthy.”

Matt Poepsel: We talked about dietary restrictions and maintaining my health. “You’ve got to have plenty of protein during recovery.” She helped me navigate all of it. The surprises, the known disruptions like travel—it was invaluable. I’m so glad I made the investment to have someone help me navigate the context.

Matt Poepsel: There’s great information out there, but applying it on the fly is a lot to ask without an expert who knows you, understands your strengths and blind spots, and can help you navigate.

Mike Matthews: And you mentioned energy and cognitive bandwidth. You only have so much to apply to these things after you’ve done all the things you have to do. That’s where having someone else can be so helpful.

Mike Matthews: Personally, I’ve been there. When stress levels are high, energy levels are low, sleep is poor, and cognitive overhead is high, it’s tough to maintain that solution-oriented mindset. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that, no matter the circumstances, there is an optimal solution. You may have to compromise or adjust, but there’s always a way to move forward.

Matt Poepsel: And sometimes that mindset can erode over long periods of time. I’ve recently come to this idea that beliefs break down barriers. For me, the barrier was my health.

Matt Poepsel: I remember several years ago, talking to a friend about going to the gym. He said, “What, are you going to keep going to the gym like you’re a high school bro? What’s happening?” Something in my mind clicked, and I thought, “Yeah, you’re right.” What a mistake it was to buy into that.

Matt Poepsel: I actually love going to the gym. When I was in my winter this time—having put on extra weight, dealing with headaches—I tried everything: scans, acupuncture, nothing worked. Finally, I went to a massage therapist, and she totally got me straightened out.

Matt Poepsel: So I’m doing so much better now. The massage therapist happens to be a competitive female bodybuilder, and she would inevitably talk about something at the gym. I thought, “I miss the gym.” She said, “Why don’t you go back to the gym?” I sheepishly told her about this conversation I had with a guy a couple of years ago who talked me out of it.

Matt Poepsel: She said, “Are you insane? There are 60-, 65-year-old guys just crushing it because they’ve made fitness their priority.” And I said, “You know what? I’m going to try.” I’ve been going back every month now to keep these headaches away.

Matt Poepsel: Recently, I went in and she asked, “How old are you again?” I said, “53.” She said, “You’ve got the body of a 38-year-old—your pliancy, your physiology. I see a lot of bodies, and whatever you’re doing with your coach is working.” I thought, “I’m so glad I bought into a new belief system.”

Matt Poepsel: Yes, we will age, and that’s going to happen, [00:44:00] but how we choose to feel in our bodies, the vitality we have, and the experience we have going to the gym are all within our control. I love going to the gym now. I can’t put up the weight I used to, but I don’t need to because I’m happy with the body I have now, and I want it to feel the way it feels.

Matt Poepsel: It was amazing to me that just because I let my guard down a little bit, a belief snuck in that wasn’t serving me. Replacing it with something better fundamentally changed my behaviors and helped me break down barriers that were preventing me from showing up the way I wanted to in life.

Mike Matthews: That’s a powerful example of how one bad idea, when accepted, can have so many negative knock-on effects. That happens to all of us in various ways. It’s something I’ve commented on a number of times, whether in social media posts or just thoughts I’ve had.

Mike Matthews: For example, I think it’s smart not to make any big—certainly irreversible—decisions when we’re not in a good headspace. If we’re angry, sad, under-rested, or super stressed, it’s better to get a good night’s sleep, eat a good meal, have a good workout, and then return to the decision. See what kind of choice you’d make under those circumstances.

Mike Matthews: The point about ideas is something I’ve kept in mind for a long time now. Be conscientious about the ideas you accept, especially if they’re deeper principles or ones that coalesce into a philosophy of life. Make sure those ideas have been audited and not just accepted in a moment of weakness, confusion, or because some authority said so.

Mike Matthews: Your example is a great one. It shows how, in just a small moment, rejecting a bad idea could have prevented a negative spiral. But the good thing is, you figured it out now, and that’s what matters.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, and it’s funny. I’ve talked to people who say, “I see female bodybuilders, and I don’t want to look like that, so I’m not going to the gym.” I’m like, “Oh, don’t worry. You’re not going to look like that.” But those thoughts sneak in.

Matt Poepsel: What happens a lot of times is confirmation bias. I’ve studied beliefs, and this entire new speaking program we’re working on is all about beliefs. It really comes down to the fact that we have this confirmation bias, right?

Matt Poepsel: We start to tell ourselves things because it’s easier to preserve our beliefs about ourselves, for example, than it is to change them. It’s a form of self-preservation. If I had to take responsibility for the shape of my body or the fact that I didn’t know how to eat the way I was eating a couple of months ago, then it forces me to look in the mirror and say, “You need help. You need to work on this.”

Matt Poepsel: But when the belief shifts, the behaviors fall in line supernaturally. A lot of times, though, we focus on the behavior—”My workout didn’t go so well,” or “I was doing them for a couple of weeks and then I fell off.” But what’s the core belief below that? Maybe it’s “work is more important than my physical fitness.”

Matt Poepsel: Even recently, there have been times when I’ve been so busy at work that I might have skipped a workout. What belief is being fed when I prioritize anything above my health? Then you have to step back and ask, “How did that belief get in there? What are we going to do about it? How do we change this up and get to a better place?”

Matt Poepsel: As you mentioned, everything comes down to beliefs, and sometimes we have to revisit them. We can’t let other people write their beliefs on our wall. That’s exactly what happened to me with my well-intentioned friend. He was basically making a comment about himself: “I don’t like going to the gym, so I’m not going to do that.” That’s fine for him, but I love going to the gym. Don’t project that belief onto me.

Mike Matthews: Absolutely. Let’s talk about your training now. How did you set that up? You can take this wherever you want, but for example, how many days per week are you training? What modifications have you made to the program? How did you make it work when you were traveling?

Matt Poepsel: The first thing we did was talk about goals—what are my goals? [00:48:00] I mentioned wanting to develop lean muscle and continue losing a little bit of weight while also putting on some mass. We talked about which areas of my body I wanted to focus on. I said, “I’m pretty wide through my shoulders, but I could add more definition and mass there. Upper chest has always been a problem for me. I don’t know what it is about my workouts or my body type, but I’ve never had that upper shelf kind of look.”

Matt Poepsel: She took it all in and said, “Okay, great. I’m going to program a workout for you. We’re doing five days a week.” That was because I asked for it. She mentioned that four days a week is perfectly fine for most people, and even three days a week can work depending on your schedule. But I told her, “I like the regularity of Monday through Friday, going every day. It’s a great way for me to start my day, and it fits into the stage of life I’m in now, with my kids grown.”

Matt Poepsel: So, we went with a five-day split. When we started looking at the different types of workouts, I also said, “I want to make sure we include exercises for the upper shoulders here, just below my neck. I used to have more definition there than I do now.” She said, “Okay, let’s put that in there.”

Matt Poepsel: All of a sudden, I was doing these different types of workouts. But when I went to the gym, I had to tell her, “They have a free bar for flat barbell press, but they don’t have a bench that allows me to do an incline press.” She said, “Okay, no problem.”

Matt Poepsel: We switched over to dumbbells. Having conversations about equipment, the layout of the gym, and all those kinds of things helped us navigate how to put together a workout aligned with my goals. There are tons of options. Even if you only have body weight, there’s so much you can do, right?

Matt Poepsel: My gym is not a big gym. It doesn’t have all this specialized equipment, but I don’t need it. The reality is that it worked out really well to use that five-day split to start.

Mike Matthews: And did you do any cardio, or was it just strength training?

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, cardio. I have a Peloton bike, which I like. I also like to run on the road and be outside. She mentioned to me that I had made the mistake of thinking I needed to do cardio to burn calories in order to lose weight. She said, “No, you do cardio because of your heart. It’s called cardio for a reason.”

Matt Poepsel: I thought, “Oh yeah, that’s right. I must sound like the dumbest person on the planet.” She said, “No, you need cardio to make sure you have a strong heart. I don’t really care what you do, but you’re going to do it three days a week, at least 20 minutes—whether on a treadmill, outside on the road, or on the bike. It’s all fine.”

Matt Poepsel: All of it went into the app, so she could see it. I remember back in 2017—I had to look it up—that’s when I picked up your book. The reason was I had just finished a bunch of triathlon work. I successfully completed an Ironman, which I was incredibly proud of. But I knew I never wanted to do it again. It was a one-and-done goal for me.

Mike Matthews: So, you’re not addicted to pain then. That’s what you learned.

Matt Poepsel: No, the pain was okay, but I’m like, “What am I going to do? Go further than that? No, thank you.” That’s when I picked up your book because I thought, “Now I want to get my physique looking the way I want it to.” I was done with road miles and swimming.

Matt Poepsel: For me, it was great to sit down and say, “These are my goals. I want to understand the place cardio has.” I’m very comfortable on all the equipment now because of what I went through with the triathlons, but I didn’t want to pretend I had to pound the pavement anymore. It was very welcome to hear her perspective on that.

Matt Poepsel: Between the nutrition, light cardio, and five days a week of workouts, I started making progress. Another thing I had never done before—don’t know how I escaped this—was supersets. I had never tried to make efficient use of working certain muscle groups.

Matt Poepsel: For the first time, what showed up in my app were supersets—doing two different exercises back-to-back. I thought, “Oh, this is very interesting.” And warmups—another thing I never did. But as soon as she put it in the app, I thought, “I’m doing this because I want to do the things being set out for me.”

Matt Poepsel: Very simple things—there’s nothing elaborate about the workouts. But they were very specific in the sense that I could see my weights, track my reps, and watch my weight going up and up. Having predetermined rest periods—sometimes as much as a minute and a half for larger muscle groups, sometimes only a minute for smaller ones—really made me feel like I was working effectively.

Matt Poepsel: I almost felt like an athlete doing this program she set up for me. It was incredibly motivating to have a plan. Walking into the gym, looking at my phone between sets, timing my rest—it felt so rewarding to know exactly what I was doing.

Mike Matthews: I can remember going through this whole experience myself, so I totally understand. Even now, I still track all my workouts. I plan them. I prefer that much more than just saying, “Okay, this is going to be an upper body day” or “This is going to be a push or pull workout,” and figuring it out as I go. The planning makes the experience more positive, so I still plan my workouts. It’s just the way I like to do it.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, it was a great collaboration for us—talking about how things were going, how specific exercises were working, and any modifications that needed to be made. I’d even peek at the workout the night before, just to have it in my mind before going to bed. I’d look forward to it. That was such a different mindset from where I had been six months ago.

Matt Poepsel: The weight came off, the muscle mass started to show, and while I’m not going to be on a stage anytime soon—that wasn’t my goal—I felt like I’d established a solid foundation of fitness. The most important thing was the education. She told me, “I’m here to teach you. You’re not necessarily here to be with me forever. This is about helping you get that jumpstart, learning what works for you, setting goals, and modifying those goals over time as you make progress.” That’s exactly what we’ve done.

Mike Matthews: That point about looking forward to workouts is worth emphasizing because that’s how it should be when you have your program set up well for you. That might look different for different people, of course. Are you going to enjoy every workout? No, but you should always enjoy having worked out, and you should enjoy most of your workouts.

Mike Matthews: If you’re not enjoying them—and you know this, but I’m saying this for people listening—it’s not because there’s anything wrong with you. It’s just because your program isn’t yet set up in the best way for you. The same goes for nutrition.

Mike Matthews: You should generally look forward to and enjoy every meal you eat. There will be exceptions, of course, but as a rule, it’s important to figure out what that looks like for you—both on the nutrition and training side. Having a good coach makes it faster and easier to get there, but it’s essential to take the time to figure it out. That’s what makes it a lifestyle.

Mike Matthews: If you only look forward to 20% of your meals or 20% of your workouts, no matter how much discipline you have, eventually compliance will suffer. That can lead to a negative feedback loop, and eventually, to quitting. The goal isn’t just to get into good shape—it’s to stay in good shape for the rest of our lives. That requires a lifestyle, and it needs to be enjoyable.

Mike Matthews: You can think of it like a relationship—you have to genuinely enjoy most of your time together, or it’s just not going to work.

Matt Poepsel: And it has to evolve. Another thing that happened: we had our first eight weeks together, doing a very specific workout, and she checked in with me to ask, “Is it time to switch things up?”

Matt Poepsel: Normally, I switch up my clients’ routines at eight weeks. We don’t change things dramatically—not switching everything—but a lot of times people tend to get bored with the same workout over too long. I told her, “You know what? I’m actually not bored with this one yet.” We had just navigated my kidney stone issue, [00:56:00] so I said, “Let’s go another two weeks with this existing plan because I like the confidence of knowing these exercises.” I wasn’t mentally drained by thinking, “Oh geez, I’ve got to do the same thing again,” because of everything I’d gone through.

Matt Poepsel: She said, “Okay, great.” After those two weeks, we switched to a new program. I enjoyed the learning process with the new exercises, feeling soreness in new places, and embracing the challenge. It was almost like rekindling the relationship with my exercise routine. That was very reassuring—to know that if I had gotten bored, we could have adjusted things while staying in line with my goals. Or, if I’d reached a new level and wanted to go further, we could tweak the routine to work different muscles or train them differently.

Mike Matthews: Can you talk to us about supplementation? What role has that played?

Matt Poepsel: What happened was I started to change things up. I began taking protein powder before my workouts because I hit the gym really early in the morning, and I don’t want to mess around with meals too much. That’s when I’ll have some protein—about 30 minutes before heading to the gym.

Matt Poepsel: She also sent me articles from your site to help me understand the timing of protein and carbohydrates. For example, I’ll have a protein shake and a banana about 30 minutes before my workout. When I come back, I’m eating real food—like eggs with feta or something similar. I try to ensure I get a solid post-workout meal.

Matt Poepsel: I know timing isn’t as critical after the workout if I’ve had protein before—based on what I’ve read from your work—but it doesn’t hurt.

Mike Matthews: Yeah, if you had protein before your workout, timing afterward isn’t as critical. It would matter more if you trained fasted—then you’d want to eat protein within 30 to 60 minutes afterward.

Matt Poepsel: Exactly. Or, if you work out later in the day, you’ve probably already got protein in your system. Demystifying all of that helped me navigate it better.

Matt Poepsel: I also take my supplements before my workout—things like creatine, magnesium glycinate, and others. I just get all that out of the way. When I hit the workout, I never feel like I have a full belly or feel sluggish.

Matt Poepsel: During my workout, I sip on an intra-workout drink with BCAAs. I’ll finish it after the workout, just to put it behind me. Then, I eat regular food for the rest of the day. If I feel like I need to close the gap on my protein target, I might have some extra protein powder with yogurt, but I don’t always need to. I’ve been really comfortable with that approach. Fortunately, my system hasn’t reacted negatively to any of the things I’ve introduced.

Mike Matthews: You mentioned an omega-3 supplement. Is that something you still take?

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, I still take it in the morning, at the same time I take my Centrum Silver. I try to stay on top of all that, reading the labels as best I can. Between that and hitting the specific whey proteins, I’ve found what works for me.

Matt Poepsel: I’m very particular about whey protein. I like it to mix well—I don’t want to mix it with oat milk or any other dairy. I want it straight with water, and I don’t want it to be chunky. Legion Whey+ has really helped me figure out exactly which flavors and consistencies I like. The last thing you want is to choke something down before heading into a hard workout. That’s just not going to happen for me.

Matt Poepsel: Normally, I switch up my clients’ routines at eight weeks. We don’t change things dramatically—not switching everything—but a lot of times people tend to get bored with the same workout over too long. I told her, “You know what? I’m actually not bored with this one yet.” We had just navigated my kidney stone issue, [00:56:00] so I said, “Let’s go another two weeks with this existing plan because I like the confidence of knowing these exercises.” I wasn’t mentally drained by thinking, “Oh geez, I’ve got to do the same thing again,” because of everything I’d gone through.

Matt Poepsel: She said, “Okay, great.” After those two weeks, we switched to a new program. I enjoyed the learning process with the new exercises, feeling soreness in new places, and embracing the challenge. It was almost like rekindling the relationship with my exercise routine. That was very reassuring—to know that if I had gotten bored, we could have adjusted things while staying in line with my goals. Or, if I’d reached a new level and wanted to go further, we could tweak the routine to work different muscles or train them differently.

Mike Matthews: Can you talk to us about supplementation? What role has that played?

Matt Poepsel: What happened was I started to change things up. I began taking protein powder before my workouts because I hit the gym really early in the morning, and I don’t want to mess around with meals too much. That’s when I’ll have some protein—about 30 minutes before heading to the gym.

Matt Poepsel: She also sent me articles from your site to help me understand the timing of protein and carbohydrates. For example, I’ll have a protein shake and a banana about 30 minutes before my workout. When I come back, I’m eating real food—like eggs with feta or something similar. I try to ensure I get a solid post-workout meal.

Matt Poepsel: I know timing isn’t as critical after the workout if I’ve had protein before—based on what I’ve read from your work—but it doesn’t hurt.

Mike Matthews: Yeah, if you had protein before your workout, timing afterward isn’t as critical. It would matter more if you trained fasted—then you’d want to eat protein within 30 to 60 minutes afterward.

Matt Poepsel: Exactly. Or, if you work out later in the day, you’ve probably already got protein in your system. Demystifying all of that helped me navigate it better.

Matt Poepsel: I also take my supplements before my workout—things like creatine, magnesium glycinate, and others. I just get all that out of the way. When I hit the workout, I never feel like I have a full belly or feel sluggish.

Matt Poepsel: During my workout, I sip on an intra-workout drink with BCAAs. I’ll finish it after the workout, just to put it behind me. Then, I eat regular food for the rest of the day. If I feel like I need to close the gap on my protein target, I might have some extra protein powder with yogurt, but I don’t always need to. I’ve been really comfortable with that approach. Fortunately, my system hasn’t reacted negatively to any of the things I’ve introduced.

Mike Matthews: You mentioned an omega-3 supplement. Is that something you still take?

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, I still take it in the morning, at the same time I take my Centrum Silver. I try to stay on top of all that, reading the labels as best I can. Between that and hitting the specific whey proteins, I’ve found what works for me.

Matt Poepsel: I’m very particular about whey protein. I like it to mix well—I don’t want to mix it with oat milk or any other dairy. I want it straight with water, and I don’t want it to be chunky. Legion Whey+ has really helped me figure out exactly which flavors and consistencies I like. The last thing you want is to choke something down before heading into a hard workout. No, not interested.

Mike Matthews: Yeah, Whey+. We get a lot of positive feedback on that product, especially from people who like to mix it with water. I’m one of those people. I just don’t care for almond milk or anything else—even though it’s only 30 to 40 calories per cup. I try to drink as few calories as possible. Generally, I like to eat my calories.

Mike Matthews: So, I want my protein powder in water, and if it doesn’t mix well or taste good in water, it’s not for me. Personally, I’ve been really invested in making sure Whey+ is good—not just for being naturally sweetened and flavored (because, let’s face it, a lot of naturally sweetened and flavored powders don’t taste good at [01:00:00] all)—but by the standards set by artificially sweetened and flavored products, which have a big flavoring advantage.

Matt Poepsel: Yeah, there’s been this massive focus on candying up protein powders, and I don’t need that. I don’t need gummy bears.

Mike Matthews: Yeah, true—you don’t need literal candy chunks in your protein powder.

Matt Poepsel: Exactly. Some brands even feature actual candy branding, and I’m like, “That’s not what I’m interested in.” I want something that tastes reasonably good and has a clean mix. Like you, if I’m going to drink my calories, I’d rather save it for oat milk in my coffee.

Matt Poepsel: Protein powder is just about convenience for me. It’s probably the one thing I’m most picky about. Supplementation, though, was an area where my coach really added value. She had me introduce things like magnesium glycinate and omega-3s, which I hadn’t been using before.

Matt Poepsel: I was already taking a multivitamin—probably just because commercials told me I should—and I’d used whey protein before, so I felt comfortable with that. But accomplishing my goals, hitting my targets, and communicating with my coach helped me hit those mass goals.

Matt Poepsel: Then, of course, none of my clothes fit anymore!

Mike Matthews: Now you have an excuse to buy a new wardrobe.

Matt Poepsel: Exactly. I ordered from one of those online tailor shops, and when the clothes arrived, I was trying them on, and my wife was commenting on the fit. Then my oldest daughter walked in, looked at me, and said, “You need to give your coach a raise. You look great.” I started laughing and told her I’d pass on the message.

Matt Poepsel: It was really gratifying to not have to worry about “winter pounds” anymore. I’ve learned how to eat properly, which I think is huge. Even as I continue to age and modify my workouts to preserve muscle mass, knowing how to eat and feeling great when I wake up has been the biggest surprise for me.

Mike Matthews: Yeah, it’s a total game changer. But we’re coming up on time. Is there anything I haven’t asked that I should have? Or anything else you’d like to say before we wrap up?

Matt Poepsel: I think the one thing I’d add is how much I’ve benefited from your work over the years. I look back and realize I got your cookbook in 2015. That’s almost 10 years ago!

Mike Matthews: That might have been the first edition.

Mike Matthews: Before we close out today’s episode, I need to tell you about the protein powder I use every day. It’s called Whey+ and it’s from my sports nutrition company, Legion.

Mike Matthews: Whey+ is a naturally sweetened and flavored 100% whey isolate protein powder made with antibiotic- and hormone-free, truly grass-fed milk from Ireland. It’s gentle on your stomach, easy to digest, and doesn’t cause bloating or discomfort.

Mike Matthews: Whey+ contains 22 grams of protein per serving, with 12 grams of essential amino acids and 5.5 grams of BCAAs. It contains no artificial sweeteners, flavors, food dyes, fillers, or other unnecessary junk, no lactose, and no added sugars.

Mike Matthews: I know the Irish dairy bit sounds like marketing puffery, but did you know that research shows Ireland produces some of the healthiest and cleanest milk in the world?

Mike Matthews: For example, Irish dairy cows graze for an average of 240 days per year, eating a diet that is 90 percent grass. That pasture-based system not only sounds great, but it also results [01:07:00] in great milk—healthier milk with more protein, more beneficial unsaturated fatty acids, omega-3s, and more vitamins like E, beta carotene, and biotin.

Mike Matthews: As you can imagine, higher-quality, healthier milk means higher-quality, healthier whey that’s made from that milk. That’s why Legion has sold over 1 million bags of Whey+ and why it has received over 9,000 5-star reviews from verified buyers on Amazon and Legion’s website.

Mike Matthews: Right now, you can save 20 percent on your first order of Whey+ and anything else in Legion’s store by going to buylegion.com/whey and using the coupon code MUSCLE at checkout.

Mike Matthews: And if, heaven forbid, you don’t like Whey+ or anything else you buy from us, simply let [01:08:00] us know and we’ll give you your money back. You don’t even have to send the products back to us.

Mike Matthews: So again, go to buylegion.com/whey, try Whey+ risk-free, and see for yourself why it’s one of the most popular truly grass-fed whey protein powders in the world. And don’t forget to use the coupon code MUSCLE to save 20 percent on your first order.

Mike Matthews: I hope you liked this episode and found it helpful. If you did, subscribe to the show—it ensures you don’t miss new episodes and helps me because it improves the show’s rankings, which makes it easier for other people to find who might like it just as much as you.

Mike Matthews: 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 at [email protected]. Let me know what I could do better or share your thoughts on what you’d like to see me do in the future.

Mike Matthews: I read everything myself and am always looking for new ideas and constructive feedback. So, thanks again for listening, and I hope to hear from you soon.