Good at a Lot, Elite at Nothing

Wiggy — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:06:55 +0000

Remember that old saying – ‘jack of all trades, master of none’?

It basically means that you’re pretty good (or pretty damn good, even) at a whole lot of different things. But, because you’ve spent a bunch of time working on all these different things, you’ve never spent enough time at any one thing in particular to get great at it.

And that’s just the way it is. Best case scenario is that you can either be pretty good at a lot or elite at a little. Can’t do both, though.

You’re just not gonna find anybody that can be elite at a lot. Just doesn’t happen.

Your workouts are the same way. You can either be in very good overall shape (strength, power, speed, cardio, physique, etc) or elite at one thing (like a highly competitive powerlifter, Olympic lifter, or bodybuilder might be). Can’t do both.

Now, if you know my style of workouts, I like to go the route at being pretty good at a lot. I’d rather do workouts that have you getting stronger, moving faster, having better cardio, and more – all at the same time. You’ll never (necessarily) be the ‘best’ at any one of those things, but you’ll be better than most.

(Not to mention you’ll be better than the elites at everything else – you’ll be faster than the powerlifter, stronger than the distance runner…you know the drill.)

BUT, what do you do if you’re seriously lacking in a given area?

See, if you’re starting out at the same level across the board, that’s cool – you can bring up all these qualities at the same time. But what if you’re not? THEN what do you do?

I mean, what if you’re already real fast, but not overly strong and your endurance sucks? Or if you have a pretty physique, but you can’t back it up in the gym? Or if you’re strong and explosive, but have pretty much no work capacity?

How do you balance everything out?

Well, that’s when you gotta do a workout that focuses on whatever it is you need to work on – target your weakness, bring it up, then move on from there.

Now, I know what you’re worried about – how do you do that, and *not* lose out on the gains you’ve busted your ass for so long to make, right? I mean, you’ve spent years getting strong as an ox – you don’t wanna lose it all in 4 months by trying to improve your cardio and conditioning.

That’s where program maintenance comes in. If you do a program that’s designed properly, you can focus on just a few main goals, and have that be the vast majority of the results you get. However, you can add in *just enough* maintenance work so as not to lose too much (if any) of all gains you’ve worked so hard for.

Remember back when I sent you the free sample of Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter? (It’s here if you missed it.)

The first phase was doing a bunch of hardcore complexes. This was to get you in shape, build cardio, and improve your conditioning and work capacity. But, as long as you used heavy enough weights in the complexes, you wouldn’t really lose out on strength.

Then in the 2nd phase, we switched it around and focused on getting stronger (setting new PRs every workout) and getting bigger, putting on extra muscle mass. Well, you didn’t wanna lose out on all that conditioning you just busted your ass for, did you? No…which is why there were short conditioning elements built into Phase 2 – just enough to maintain.

Of course, then when you hit Phase 3…well, that’s when you go balls to the wall on everything, and bring it *all* up.

So you spent the first phase focusing on one set of goals, maintaining everything else. Then, you spent the next phase focusing on a different set of goals, maintaining everything else. Then, on phase 3, that’s when you kick it into high gear across the board, and bring it ALL up.

See how you do that?

And, of course, the totally badass thing about Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter is that each phase is pretty self contained. If you were to have to repeat a phase to bring those qualities up further before moving on, then it would be not only easy and doable, but completely recommended.

If you need to do some focusing in your workouts, and really elevate your *entire* game to a whole new level, then click on the link or button below, and go give Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter a shot.

You won’t regret it.

=>CLICK HERE NOW to get more info on Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

New Workout Template – What I’m Doing Now

Wiggy — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:04:54 +0000

The other day, I found myself telling a few peeps via PM (private message) about my current workouts, and the newest workout template I was messing with. And since I know I’ve got a ton more peeps on my newsletter, that read my blog, on Facebook, and other random places, I figured “what the hell – I’ll just put it into a blog post for everybody to see”.

After all, I do like to give you cool stuff for free when I can, you know?

Anyway, a little background.

I’d been doing workouts like what’s in the 4-Week Ass Kicking Blast for quite a while – a few months (and at the highest level – not the lower volume, ramp-up weeks) without a break. I still loved the workouts, and I enjoyed them, but they had been getting a little stale. Besides, when I was doing the workout that involved pushup and row circuits, I was getting to the point that I was doing 500+ pushups in a workout, and doing that a few times/week was starting to wreak havoc on my shoulders.

(I’ve got past shoulder issues anyway.)

So, I decided to alter the 4-Week Ass Kicking Blast a little, and see how that worked. I’d actually picked up a couple new Kettlebells from MuscleDriver USA and wanted to work those into my workouts. It went Ok for a couple weeks, but I needed something different.

I went through all my old programs (yeah, I know – a guy selling programs who does his own programs…crazy, huh?), and decided that I wanted to do something that was a little more strength, volume, and work capacity based. But, I still wanted conditioning. I didn’t want to completely move away from complexes (y’all know I’m a huge fan of complexes), but I wanted something a little different. And I wanted to get the chance to work with my new KBs.

I went looking through Working Class Cardio, and it dawned on me – a version of some of the stuff I’d written into Phase 1 of WCC. I would use higher sets with more medium reps. It could let me focus on lifting (relatively) heavy, really focus on form/technique, and get a bunch of overall volume in. Plus, it would let me concentrate on just a handful of different exercises.

Then, I’d add in ‘active rest’ exercises after each set. This would really up the workload factor, and allow me to still work on work capacity and retain conditioning, without doing the hardcore circuits I had been doing. I’d split it into a two-day format, so I could train on a Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri schedule, as I’ve found over the past year or so that type of schedule really suits me. And if I had to miss a day, making it up would be no big deal, as I wouldn’t be super-behind in my program.

(Though, I haven’t missed a day in…jeez…can’t remember how long. LOL. I’ve been downright consistent, I tell ya! )

Here’s what I ended up coming up with:

Monday/Thursday (upper day):

1 – GPP Warmup (this should come as no surprise – LOL)

2 – KB Press: 8 x 6 each side
*follow each set with 50 jumping or seal jacks + 50 skiers

3 – DB Raise/Rows: 8 x 6
*follow each set with 50 jumping or seal jacks + 50 skiers

4 – Finisher

Tuesday/Friday (lower):

1 – GPP Warmup

2 – KB High Pull: 8 x 6 each side
*follow each set with 50 jumping or seal jacks + 50 skiers

3 – Double KB Swing (a KB in each hand, swing outside the legs): 8 x 6
*follow each set with 50 jumping or seal jacks + 50 skiers

4 – Finisher

Now, the ‘finisher’ for each workout can vary from workout to workout. On upper days, it’s usually something vanity related – maybe banded Barbell Curls, or DB Curls, or a biceps/triceps superset. Something along those lines. On lower days, it’s generally something conditioning related – as of late, it’s been Bench Jumps for 10 sets of 6 jumps + 6 breaths. But sometimes it’s hill sprints. Other times it’s 50 Burpees done as fast as possible.

(Some of you might wonder why I’m using KB High Pulls instead of KB Snatches. If you picked up the 4-Week Minimalistic Blast, you’ll know that I’m actually a much bigger fan of KB High Pulls than I am KB Snatches. Though, I do plan on switching them out with DB Snatches – which I’m a very big fan of – from time to time.)

The awesome thing about this program is how customizable it is.

You notice all the jacks + skiers. Sometimes I’ll swap out Mountain Climbers x 15 each leg for one or the other. Or Squat Thrusts x 10. Or Medicine Ball Woodchoppers x 10. Anything along those lines.

Now, how could you work this kinda program into what you do?

Pretty simple, really – just take the basic template, and swap in your favorite compound exercises. They could be barbell, sandbag, DB, kettlebell…whatever you want. Examples of sample upper days could be:

-Bench Press and Bent Row
-Push Press and Weighted Chins
-Sandbag Clean & Press and DB Rows
-Weighted Dips and Renegade Rows
-1-Arm DB Clean & Press and Reverse Grip Rows

That sorta thing.

For lower days, you could pick the usual suspects – Squats, Deadlifts, etc. – but also various Olympic lift hybrids or variations. Sample days could be:

-Cleans and Squats
-High Pulls and Rack Deadlifts
-DB Snatch and Racked KB Lunges
-Power Snatch and Trap Bar Deadlifts

You get the idea.

For weight, pick a heavy weight that you could get 6-7 good, clean reps with – maybe 8 (but that’s pushing the light side). You want to be grinding through all these sets – they should all be heavy. If you can’t quite gut out all 6 reps in a set by the end of the workout, then rest-pause your way out to 6 reps. Or, in other words, do as many as you can, rack the bar (but don’t let go), rest a couple breaths, do another rep or two, rack the bar, and keep repeating until you get all 6 reps for that set. Keep doing this for all your sets.

If you wanted to pick different exercises each workout (say have one pair of exercises for upper on Monday, then another pair of exercises for upper on Thursday; same with lower on Tuesday and Friday), then that would work, too. Just be sure to repeat each week.

Try this template out – it’s pretty simple, but damn if it doesn’t work. I think y’all will totally dig it.

Have a kickass weekend.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

How to Look Great, Feel Better, and Kick Ass at Life

Wiggy — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:36:55 +0000

Gotta share this testimonial.

I’ve told y’all about the Bonafede brothers more than once – they shouldn’t even need an introduction anymore. Basically, they’re perfect examples of what happens when you take hardcore, intense workouts, and apply a kickass work ethic to them.

Not long ago, I had been telling you about the results Matt Bonafede was getting with “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter”.

Well, check out the email his brother Aaron sent me last Friday:

“I must admit I wanted to kick your ass the last month. That “Body Armor 2″ Phase 1 was killing me. We let me rephrase that, the layout was *@!ing hard but the weight I decided to use was killing me.

I have noticed a switch over the last year. When Matt and I finished the cardio program I was about 155-160. (NOTE: see pics here) Since the Olympic style lifts came back into play I still stayed lean but have put on some good size. I’m
about 168 -170 now.

I can still outwork just about anyone I see at the gym and can’t get anyone to work out with me (surprise). I’m actually still pretty lean but can see the size in my legs and shoulders.

I just keep getting stronger. The amazing part is the capacity. For instance see my workout below:

Push Press – 155 x 6
50- jumping jacks
Dead Lift – 315 x 6
50 – jumping jacks
Cleans – 155 x 6
50 – jumping jacks
Squats – 315 x 6
50 – jumping jacks

oh yeah repeat x 5

For the life of me I can’t explain how I can move that amount of weight w/out any real rest and still be ready in 1-2 min after to go another round. That part to me is way better than the “how much do you bench?”. At 35 I can do more than I could in my 20′s.

I still feel great, look great, and love life.”

Notice a couple things there:

1 – the layout of the workout is tough, but his work ethic and how much weight he used seriously compounded the effectiveness of the program

2 – he’s in better shape in his mid-30s than he was in his 20s (it’s usually the other way around)

3 – That last line – I still feel great, look great, and love life. What more could you want?

If you wanna fast-track yourself to the same sorta results Aaron and his brother Matt get, then you owe it to yourself to get your own copy of “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter” – PRONTO

=>CLICK HERE (or the button below) NOW

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

Getting Big at Home?

Wiggy — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:50:22 +0000

Got a pretty interesting email the other day.

This guy had seen that my new “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter” had finally been released (and is flying off the virtual shelves, I might add), and noted that if you grab the ‘deluxe’ package, you get a “Home Version” of the program.

(Meaning you could do the entire program with nothing but dumbbells or kettlebells and a pullup bar if you wanted to.)

He was puzzled b/c he thought that you had to go to the gym and lift barbells in order to get big and strong and powerful. After all, take a look at most of the big and strong and powerful dudes you see – pretty much all of them are lifting heavy-ass barbells.

And this *is* true. BUT, here’s the thing…

Your body honestly has NO CLUE what you’re using as resistance when you work out. All it knows is that it has to produce force in a given direction(s) for a given number of times (i.e. – reps).

It doesn’t know if you’re lifting a barbell or a dumbbell or a kettlebell or a rock or a sandbag or the annoying kid from down the street. All it knows is that you’re lifting something.

So all that means is that you gotta reproduce the same kinda conditions – heavy weight, the right volume and density, and such.

All you have to do is get a little resourceful. Most of the time, you can just do a DB (or KB) version of the barbell lift. Sometimes, to still keep it heavy, you might have to lift one arm at a time or one leg at a time. That kinda thing.

And certain types of training won’t lend themselves real well to DBs or KBs – working up to a new RM is a perfect example. But that’s no problem – there are several types of other set and rep schemes that are just as beneficial, and much better suited to DBs or KBs.

But you wanna know the cool thing? You really don’t have to worry about *any* of that. Because if you pick up “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter”, I’ve already thought about all that for you….AND given you all the solutions.

All you gotta do is show up and work your ass off. Leave the thinking to me.

How’s that sound?

=>CLICK HERE NOW to go check out “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter”

Have a kickass weekend.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

Say It All You Want – I Still Don’t Believe You

Wiggy — Thu, 26 May 2011 12:30:38 +0000

I’ve talked about this kinda thing before, but it floors me how much certain circles in the fitness industry like to separate themselves from each other.

You know – powerlifters don’t like olympic lifters, and they don’t like strongman competitors, and nobody likes bodybuilders…etc.

It’s all stupid.

They all walk around with some sorta “I’m better than you” wannabe mojo going on, as if the way they train is the only way you *should* train. Worse than that, they look down on all the other training disciplines…like those kinda workouts or goals are “beneath” them.

This is *ESPECIALLY* true of bodybuilding. Man, you don’t hear more crude comments than you do about bodybuilders or how bodybuilders train.

And the funny thing is, is that all the guys talking smack not only never look as good, but they always say they don’t care. “It doesn’t matter how I look, as long as I can (insert activity here).”

I’m here to tell you that they’re full of shit.

EVERYBODY cares about how they look. If you didn’t, you would never own a mirror, care about how you dress, or brush your hair. Oh yeah, you can do that before you walk out the door so you don’t look like a total schmuck, but doing a workout that helps you look good somehow now makes you a sissy.

Get the hell outta here with that.

We all wanna look good – and there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t let anybody tell you any different. I’m not saying you should care about looks in place of what you can do – form always follows function.

Listen, trainers and coaches (at least the ones worth a damn) have realized for YEARS that looking good can make you feel good, and when you feel good, you perform even better.

(I tell a couple quick stories about that HERE.)

We all know how important it is for your workouts to make you bigger, stronger, faster, more explosive, help you build better cardio, more endurance, higher levels of work capacity, and more.

But, if you can do all that, *and* get yourself looking better (which raises self-confidence, self-assurance, ‘swagger’, and more), then wouldn’t you wanna do that, too?

Damn right you would.

(Think a guy like Terry Crews doesn’t care about his ‘swagger’? pic is right there^^^)

And that’s exactly what “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter” will do for you.

Click the button below now, and find out a lot more:

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

This is Why I’m an Expert

Wiggy — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:27:13 +0000

So yesterday, my son’s friend (my boy is 16, his friend is 18) comes over after school yesterday. His buddy is skinny as a rail…I mean, I think I was born bigger than this poor kid…and is looking for advice on how to pack on some muscle.

So naturally, he came to talk to the expert.

*puffs chest out* LOL

Anyway, I spent a couple hours going over some of the basics on what he’d need to do to put a bunch of muscle on. Of course the first thing we talked about was diet, and since the poor guy was so skinny, I told him all about drinking a gallon of whole milk per day.

He looked less than enthused about that.

Then I got into my favorite stuff – the kinda characteristics your workout has to have (volume, heavy weight, overall tonnage, density, etc) in order to build muscle. I then outlined a real simple – yet *highly* effective – program for him to start using.

After he left, it totally dawned on me that the basic sets and reps structure I was telling this kid to use was just a simplified version of exactly what’s used in Phase 3 of “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter”.

(Which is gonna be available this Tuesday, by the way…)

It’s pretty simple really – you lift heavy with a certain sets/reps goal in mind. You keep that up until you can’t anymore, and then keep doing sets until you get all your reps. The next workout, you try to improve.

So for instance, in the case of talking to this kid yesterday, I told him I wanted him to do 5 sets of 10 reps for 50 total reps on an exercise. BUT, I wanted him to use a fairly heavy weight, and he likely wouldn’t get all 5 sets of 10 reps – and that was fine.

When he could no longer get 10 reps, do sets of whatever reps he could get (as long as he’s using good form) and keep going until he got 50 total reps.

So sets 1 and 2 might be for 10 reps. Set 3 might only be for 8. Set 4 for 7. Set 5 maybe only 6. At this point, he’s done 5 sets, but only 41 total reps (10+10+8+7+6). So he would keep up with sets of however many reps he could get until he got 50 total.

The next workout, the goal is to use the same weight, start out with sets of 10 again, and get all 50 reps in fewer sets total.

And he would keep repeating this until he were to get all 50 reps in 5 sets of 10 reps. At that point, it’s time to increase the weight.

This kind of training is a huge part of Phase 3 of “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter”, and will put muscle on you like nobody’s business.

Got a really cool announcement I wanna tell y’all about, but I think I’m gonna wait until tomorrow to drop it on you…it being Friday and all. (I like to end the week on a good note. )

So be sure to check back to tomorrow’s blog post…

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

The Next Part of the ‘Summer Shape-Up’

Wiggy — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:52:11 +0000

(Holy shit – did I *really* just say ‘summer shape-up’?)

*face palm*

The past couple days we’ve been talking getting in shape for summer – you know, different things that can help you look good in a swimsuit and/or with no shirt on.

By now, we know that intense circuit training is the best way to get started on this, as it’s gonna help you blast fat off you (giving you definition, helping you attain that “v-taper”, and making you highly injury-resistant to boot).

But when it’s time to really put the muscle on, there’s nothing that’s gonna beat plain, old-school heavy lifting.

Sure, there are plenty of dudes out there who make huge claims and tell you that they can show you the easy way out. Hate to tell you this, but they’re bullshitting you. If you wanna get big, you need three basic things in your workout:

lifting heavy-ass weights
volume (you’re gonna have to do a bunch of reps in total)
density (getting a lot done in a short-ish amount of time)

This means hitting new PRs for 3RMs and 5RMs, heavy sets of 6-8 on basic compound exercises, and volume that puts you in the 40-70 rep range for larger bodyparts (shoulders & chest, back, legs, etc).

BUT, the one thing you *DO NOT WANT* to do is lose out on all that conditioning you just did, right?

I mean, didn’t you just spend a bunch of time busting your ass on the hardcore circuit training to get yourself in shape? You don’t wanna let that all go to waste, do you?

And at the same time, while you’re lifting heavy to put more muscle on, you still wanna stay relatively lean, right?

Well, you can’t go balls-out on conditioning while you’re doing your heavy strength work, because you need to save your CNS, recovery abilities, and effort for the heavy stuff. But, you *can* do some real basic ‘maintenance’ work that will keep you in check.

(This is what I have you doing in my upcoming “Body Armor – the 2nd Chapter”.)

First of all, start your workout off w/GPP. (This should be no surprise to any of y’all that have seen my workouts.) Then, your workouts will be made up generally of heavy, compound movements for strength and size.

But, between each strength exercise, toss in a quick bout of conditioning. This doesn’t have to be anything crazy – maybe do 20-30 burpees, jump rope for 1-2 mins, do some shadowboxing…that sort of thing. Anything that is short (usually a couple mins or less) and gets your heart going real hard, real fast.

This jacks up your breathing and heartrate, and will help keep it there during your next exercise. Do this between every exercise, and you’re keeping it up overall through the whole workout.

Cool thing about this is that it not only helps you maintain some of that cardio, but it also burns more calories, keeps your metabolism revved up post-workout, and helps you build more work capacity.

It’s like a win-win-win-win-win type of scenario.

Pretty sweet, huh?

Try it out and lemme know what you think.

More cool stuff coming your way tomorrow.

And mark your calendars – next Tuesday (24-May-11), “Body Armor – the 2nd Chapter” will be released.

You’re soooooo gonna dig it. (And you’re not gonna wanna hit summer without it! )

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

Learn How to Be Bulletproof

Wiggy — Tue, 17 May 2011 12:27:19 +0000

In yesterday’s blog post, I talked about summer coming, and how that meant beaches, swimsuits, going shirtless, and why building that “v-taper” was such a big deal…and then gave you an easy way how to do it.

Let’s keep going.

Now, as many of you know, I’m a big fan of intense circuit training to lose bodyfat. And just like I talked about yesterday, when you drop bodyfat, you build that “v-taper”, and you look good for the hot wimminz on the beach.

But circuit training has another massive benefit going for it – it makes you damn near like Superman…bulletproof.

See, I’ve never been into workouts that make you look good, but don’t make you stronger, faster, get you in better shape, or anything like that. All show and no go sucks. Hard.

At the same time, I’ve never been a complete “form follows function” kinda guy, either. Don’t get me wrong, performance is #1 without a doubt. But all these guys that say “I don’t care how I look, I only care how I *insert activity here*” usually are liars.

And when it comes to getting in shape, circuit training is the start of the best of both worlds. It helps you burn through bodyfat, builds massive work capacity, crazy cardio, makes you stronger and faster, and helps you be more athletic.

It’s virtually the perfect first step into turning yourself into your own version of Superman – and a perfect way to prepare yourself for building more muscle (once you’ve gotten in shape) and getting even stronger down the road.

So when you’re looking to undergo a complete and total body transformation, making yourself leaner, stronger, bigger, look better, and resistant to injury – intense circuit training would be the best way to start that plan off.

Be sure to keep an eye out for tomorrow’s newsletter. Once you move past your circuit training and into your direct strength training, you won’t want to lose out on the conditioning you’ve built – I’ll give you a cool little tip on how to maintain it.

See you then.

PS – “Body Armor” was one of my best selling programs ever…more of you jumped on that in a single 24-hour period than any other program I’ve ever put out. Well, stay tuned, because the “The 2nd Chapter” is coming soon…

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

Attach Your V-Taper The Right Way

Wiggy — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:57:16 +0000

Well, it’s the middle of May…already! Hard to believe, huh?

Before long, school will be ending, summer will be in full effect, and the weather will be warm (if it’s not where you are already).

With summer and warm weather means wearing fewer and fewer clothes – be it a swimsuit at the beach, or just working shirtless in the yard. And when that time comes, you wanna look good.

(And I don’t mean just having a tan.)

Now, people can give you all the BS they want, but pretty much everybody, at least a little bit, has the goal to “look good nekkid” from their workouts.

Well, lemme give you one quick tip on how to do that.

For dudes, one of the best things you can do is to develop that “V-taper”…you know – wide shoulders and narrow waist. It gives the look of strength and power, not to mention is highly aesthetic.

In other words – chicks think it looks good and you look tough. And it’s one of the things that you can develop that makes you look good even with a shirt still on.

So – how to do it?

Most dudes think it’s all about building wide shoulders and lats, so they go nuts on lateral raises and back work. Which is fine. But remember, this is all about perception – what ‘looks’ good…not necessarily what it is.

The quickest (and easiest) way to build that “V-taper” and have that muscular and powerful look is not to build wider shoulders. I mean, that’s necessary, but it takes a long time.

Instead, focus on dropping some excess flub around the middle.

It doesn’t matter if your waist stays the same, and your shoulders get wider, or your shoulders stay the same, and you waist gets narrower – either way you’re building that “V-taper”…

…but the latter takes a lot less time and can be done much more quickly. And you’d be surprised at how it makes you look. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me “how big I’m getting” when I’ve actually been *losing* weight…I just looked better.

It’s all about perception.

So when you go to get in shape for the beach this summer, look for a program that actually gets you dropping some bodyweight first, *then* has you putting some size on.

I’ll have more tips coming your way tomorrow.

PS – More details soon, but if you have “Body Armor”, keep a look out – “Body Armor – The 2nd Chapter” is coming your way VERY soon.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts

Which One Do I Use?

Wiggy — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:08:28 +0000

Just recently, I’ve told you about my two favorite nutrition plans - carb cycling and intermittent fasting.

But, as both are pretty different, that’s prompted a few of y’all to email me and ask me which one I do.

Or more specifically (since I pretty much said I use a modified version of intermittent fasting), if I go back and forth between the two, and what they should do.

To tell the truth, I kinda do a massive hybrid (I didn’t read this anywhere, it’s just kinda what I ended up gravitating towards and coming up with for me that worked well – just like training, I read up, try stuff out, and tinker with it).

My eating schedule (i.e. – when I eat) is based on the IF stuff I told you about last time. Butwhat I eat is more based on carb cycling.

See, I won’t eat anything all day long. When I first get up, I’ll take my vitamins and fish oil (gotta have the fish oil). Then, since I don’t drink and can’t stand coffee – lol – it might be a lo-carb Monster energy drink…will usually just sip on it all morning and into the afternoon.

Right before my workout, it’s a serving of GI Nutrition’s “Ideal Pump” pre-workout drink. Don’t start your workouts w/o it.

If I’m feeling extremely fatigued, I’ll then have a serving of GI’s “Ideal Recovery” after my workout. This is something I need to start making more regular, though.

I won’t eat until 5-6pm, and will break my fast since the previous night with a big protein shake – usually 60-70g of protein. (GI’s “Ideal Whey” fits the bill here, perfectly.)

I let that settle for a while, then will have 1-3 cups of raw broccolli. Broccolli has vitamins you need, doesn’t have many calories, is a good source of fiber, and has been shown to lower estrogen levels in men (and estrogen has been shown to make men retain belly fat) fairly quickly.

I’ll then eat kinda what I want until 9-10pm. I like to keep all my calories inside of a 4-hour window or so.

I try to make what I eat protein-based if I can, though I might snack from time-to-time.

One thing I’ve been eating that’s been AWESOME lately – fire-roasted tomatoes + corn + banana peppers + diced chicken breast. Mix up, season (usually with spicy stuff) to taste. Let awesomeness ensue.

But overall, I keep the protein intake very high, and the carb intake fairly low if I can. Then, once that 4-hour window is up, I don’t eat again until 5-6pm the next day.

Now, I do this usually 5 days/week – Sun thru Thurs. On Friday, I won’t eat until 5-6pm, but by then, I’m feeling kinda run down from a hard week of workouts, work, and lower carbs, so I carb up in the form of beer and pizza.

LOL. Yeah, I said beer & pizza.

Saturdays, I’ll see how I feel. Saturdays are usually just a ‘chill’ day for me (no workouts, no work, just fun & relaxing) so I’ll kinda eat how I want. I’ll either get back on track and only eat at night, but be a little looser w/the carbs or just can relax as a whole.

By Sunday, I’m back in the swing of things full-force.

Now, I’m not saying that’s how YOU should do things by any means. This is just what I’ve developed that works for me.

If you wanna read up on some of this stuff (which I *highly* recommend), then check out these resources:

=>go here to learn about carb cycling

=>go here to learn about intermittent fasting

=>go here to get all your GI Nutrition supplements (and don’t forget to use the promo code “WIGGY” – all caps – at checkout to save 10%)

Ok – gotta run. Tons of stuff to get done today.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard-
Matt “Wiggy” Wiggins
Muscle Building Workouts | Cardio Workout | MMA Workout | MMA Workouts