Show notes | PDF & Infographic | Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body focuses on the best tips for building muscle and losing fat.

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About Michael Matthews

Michael Matthews is the bestselling fitness author of Bigger Leaner Stronger, Thinner Leaner Stronger, and The Shredded Chef. He is also the founder of Legion Athletics. His simple, science-based approach to building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy has helped him sell over a million books. His work has been featured in many popular outlets, including Esquire, Men’s Health, Elle, Women’s Health, Muscle & Strength, and more, as well as on FOX and ABC.

Introduction

Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body focuses on the best tips for building muscle and losing fat. Michael Matthews gives you a blueprint for how you can start eating and exercising your way towards a bigger, leaner, and stronger body. He claims this book should offer the advice required to gain 10 to 15 pounds of lean mass in just 8-12 weeks.

StoryShot #1: Progressive Tension Overload

Michael Matthews believes that progressive tension overload is fundamental to growing and sustaining a highly muscular body. He defines progressive tension overload as the practice of incrementally increasing the heaviness of the weights that you are lifting. As your muscles grow, using the same heaviness of weight will lower the tension placed on your muscle fibers. But to continue to grow your muscles, you must continue to increase this tension level by increasing the heaviness of your weights. Michael Matthews advises that even if you listen to all the other advice in this book, you’ll still fail to build muscle if you do not progressively overload. So always add another rep or a little bit of weight compared to your last workout. 

Matthews explains that the concept of progressive overload is not solely a modern one. Instead, the ancient Greek hero Milo was said to have carried a cow on his back daily from childhood. But over the years, the cow grew in size. Crucially, as the cow grew, so did Milo’s physique. Milo’s strength grew in proportion to the increase in weight he had to carry.

Finally, progressive overload can be a highly effective motivator. If you notice progress in the weight you can lift, you notice progress even if progress is not yet visible on your body. Track what you lift, so you beat that weight every workout. Achieving incremental goals activates the reward center of the brain, which releases dopamine. Over time, these regular dopamine releases can change neural pathways to signal the expectation of rewards when it comes time to work out. This rewiring of the brain can improve workout stamina and motivation to hit the gym even on a tough day.

StoryShot #2: Use Free Weights and Compound LiftingStoryShot #3: Feed Your Muscles With Food and Rest

This was first published on 28/5/2021.

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