It boggles my mind some of nutjob workout programs there are out there now.

Everybody seems to have some sorta gimmick now. A gimmick piece of equipment, a gimmick workout schedule, a gimmick type of training…ugh.

Whatever happened to just goin’ out and working hard?

Take getting stronger.

Now, I’m about to let you in on a MAJOR secret to getting stronger. This secret is something I’ve just recently discovered, and I can’t believe I’m about to tell you in a newsletter…I should be charging TOP DOLLAR for this kinda info. But, I’m “cool like that”, so here you go.

If you wanna get stronger, you’ve gotta…wait for it….wait for it…lift heavy shit.

Yeah, I know – pretty mind-blowing, right? Lift heavy shit. Get stronger. Who’d have thunk it?

But guess what? Lifting heavy shit is HARD. It takes a lot of effort, work, and “testicular fortitude”. Which is why nobody wants to do it.

And that’s why all the fitness geeks, gurus, and wannabes come up with every conceivable method in the world to try and convince you that you can get strong w/o lifting heavy shit.

Well, tell me this – when you were in school, did you ever get smarter by studying stuff you already knew? Yeah – didn’t think so. So why would you get stronger by going easy on the weights?

Ain’t gonna happen.

Listen – dump all the gimmicks and crap that most of the modern fitness industry tries to convince you will “work”. They might sound cool, or neat, or hip, or whatever…but you can pretty well assume that if they sound like they can get you out of hard work, that they suck ass.

Now, if you’re ready to dump all the crap, buckle down, put some effort in, and *really* get some damn results, then go check out ”Working Class Fitness – The Programs”.

It’s six completely different, all-encompassing 8-week programs, each w/a different focus, so that you maintain (maybe even improve) everything else, you really get good at one particular thing.

Maybe you get really strong while maintaining endurance and cardio. Or maybe you really get fast while maintaining strength, cardio, & work capacity. Or maybe you do nothing but bodyweight exercise for a while.

You get the idea.

So, forget all the gimmicks, and start really working…you’d be surprised at just what you can do.

=>Get “Working Class Fitness – The Programs”

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

Got a million things goin’ on this morning, but I had to tell you about this really bitchin’ email I woke up to from Alan H. on Facebook.

Alan is in the Canadian Military (Infantry) and has been using the “Working Class Cardio Workout” to get in better shape for the past 7 weeks.

Like I said, I gotta make this email a quickie, so I’ll just throw some stats out there:

1 – DB Clean & Press (8 sets x 3 reps)
Before – 67.5 lbs w/60 secs rest
After – 82.5 lbs w/35 secs rest

2 – DB Rows (8 sets x 3 reps)
Before – 90 lbs w/60 secs rest
After – 110 lbs (biggest the gym has) w/25 secs rest

3 – DB Snatches (8 sets x 3 reps)
Before – 62 lbs w/60 secs rest
After – 80 lbs w/35 secs rest

4 – Burpees x 100
Before – 16 mins
After – 9 mins

5 – 5k run
Before – more than 25 mins
After – under 21 mins
(and that’s w/doing NO RUNNING IN SIX WEEKS)

I want to send a MONSTER Congrats to Alan, as he’s kicking some major ass w/the “Working Class Cardio Workout”!!

Wanna do the same thing, and make the same kinda gains?

=>GO HERE to Get Stronger, Faster, Leaner, & Have a Bigger Gas Tank

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

This is an article I wrote for MMA Weekly.com back in…jeez…a LONG time ago. Probably back in ’03 or ’04. Out of all the stuff I’ve written in my day, this is probably one of my all-time favorite articles. And I know everyone here will be able to relate.

Take a look and enjoy.

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When I was in college, I used to do a fair bit of running in my strength & conditioning training. Normally, I did my weight training Monday through Friday in the mid-morning between classes. On Sunday through Thursday (usually sometime that night – say 9:00 or 10:00), I’d go run.

This was before I discovered the enormous benefits of HIIT and interval training, so my running was L.S.D. style (Long Slow Distance). I was no marathoner, but I averaged 2.5-6 miles per day.

Believe it or not, I enjoyed running. Usually just past the one-mile mark, I get that “tingly” feeling. This meant that endorphins had been released into my body, and I was no longer feeling any kind of “pain” or discomfort from the exertion. Plugged into my Walkman, I had a good “groove” going by this point, and the rest of the effort was just doing it.

Let me preface my next point – I enjoy running in the rain. TheI water cools me, the air is thick with moisture and easy to take in, as it’s not “ideal” weather, most people are inside…I can go out, start running, and almost “lose” myself in the effort. My runs were usually longer in the rain, and more intense. (In other words, I worked harder.)

If you didn’t know already, I live and went to college in North Carolina. If you know anything about the southeast, you know that there are periods during the spring and fall in which it rains virtually nonstop for weeks on end. I loved this time of year.

I used to catch a lot of crap from women for running in the rain. My mom used to pester me, “You’re going to catch a cold!” A girl I was pretty good friends with used to shake her head at me, “I’m telling you, you’re going to catch pneumonia!” Now, if I do any running in the rain, my wife hounds me, “You’re going to get sick and give it to everybody in the house!” It’s harder to put up with all this crap than it is to actually do the running!!

One fateful afternoon, it began raining, and I decided to get my run in early. I had gone a couple miles, and the endorphins were running wild. I was “lost” in the run, and had let go mentally – I was just worried about the physical effort.

As I rounded a corner on campus, a car drove by and honked. I threw up a hand to wave, but, keeping my head down, I made no effort to determine who it was. I just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

Later that day, I was at the university cafeteria (or “mess hall,” as I called it) having dinner. A group of us were sitting together when a small group of girls joined us.

These girls were “friends” of ours in that we all knew and were cordial with each other, but we didn’t really like one another. They were “rich kids” – the kind that had been given everything they ever wanted since birth. They never had a job. They never had to work for anything.

I think that by now, most of you who follow my work know what I’m like – just “regular guy.” These girls were the exact opposite of a “regular guy.”

As they sat down, one of them began to chide me, “Hey Wiggy, why are you out running in the rain?” It turned out they were the ones who had been in the car that honked at me earlier. “Don’t you know you’ll get sick?” I rolled my eyes. “Besides, there are Stairmasters over at the gym – why not just use those?”

“Because poor guys run,” I replied.

She looked at me with a completely befuddled look. I knew she didn’t get it. And she never would.

When I went back to my dorm room, I got one of my workout shirts and a felt-tip marker. I wrote “Poor Guys Run” on the back across the shoulders. I wore that shirt on almost every run I went on for two years. Some people – the “regular guys” – got it. Everybody else was clueless. But that was Ok. It’s sort of like what the Westside Barbell T-shirts say: “If you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand.”

By now, there are probably a few of you that are wondering what this story has to do with fight or strength & conditioning training. The answer is “pretty much nothing.”

However, the next time you’re out doing your conditioning or strength training, making your way to boxing class, or even though you’re sore and dead tired, you still go to grappling class anyway, and somebody looks at you with a befuddled look and wants to know “Why?” just tell them, “Because poor guys run.”

They most likely won’t understand, but that’s Ok. I will and all your fellow “Working Class” brothers & sisters (regardless of where they’re located) will. We’ll understand – and we’ll be with you in spirit.

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

I know – y’all think I’m about to go on a monster rant, huh? Well, I’m not today…

…well…maybe a *small* one…lol.

Here’s the thing people – some folks just don’t wanna wise up…esp when it comes to their cardio workouts.

Ever know somebody who was just making a bunch of STUPID decisions, but no matter what you did or told them, you knew you were never gonna change their mind, and they were never gonna pull their head outta their ass?

B/c you care and are a friend, you really wanna help ‘em. But after a while, you just say “the hell w/it”, and leave ‘em be…and try really hard not to say “I told you so” when it all backfires.”

That’s about how I am these days w/people and their cardio workouts.

Now, I know many of you “get it”. You’ve been on my list long enough, and are smart enough to figure this stuff out…esp when I tell you “what’s what”.

But you have no idea how many people I know that no matter how much I try to tell them that intense, athletic-based circuit training is the way to go, they wanna just
argue with me.

*face palm*

Yeah, going jogging for a mile or two a few times/week is decent exercise. I’m not disputing that. But, why do that (and wreak havoc on your knees, ankles, & hips in
the process), when you could:

-increase your strength & power
-build a more muscular physique
-burn more calories during…and after…your intense workout
-improve *both* your aerobic and anaerobic capabilities (meaning even better cardio) at the same time
-develop work capacity to the point that it’d take a forklift to outwork you
-do your workouts virtually anywhere you wanted, and at any time
-build stronger & healthier muscles…heart…lunges…joints…bones…should I keep going?

Listen, like the friend I was telling you about, I’m not gonna go nuts all day to try and wise somebody up if they don’t wanna listen.

You wanna continue on for endless, mindless, boring hours doing traditional cardio? Knock yourself out.

But, if you wanna get more results…better results…and in a lot less time…then go get the =>”Working Class Cardio Workout”

It’ll do all that…and a ton more. Believe dat.

That link again… =>www.workingclasscardioworkout.com

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

Note – as of the original writing/publishing of this article (07-Apr-10), Eric W. had lost 43 lbs.  As of the last time I talked w/him (end May-10), he was down 61 lbs – and still losing – and had just run 3 miles nonstop for the first time in his life.

*************

I know I’m gonna be kinda repeating myself here, but tough sh!t – this needs to be said, so I’m gonna say it again.

If you saw my latest blog over at GI Nutrition (the link is on my Facebook page), you know I went off on accountability. I’m sick of people that are lazy and making excuses all the time.

Too many people want “something for nothing” – they want all the awesome results, but they don’t wanna put the work in.

Well, I think that sucks.

There isn’t *anything* that’s actually worth having that’s easy. Fair or not, life just don’t work that way.

Take this email I got not long ago:

“I wanted to throw you a note and tell you how much I like the Working Class Cardio Workout…The thing I like the most about this program is that its progressive and it seems to condition you for the next phase.

I’m 41 years old and when I started this program I weighed 304 lbs and wore a size 50 pant and it was getting worse…I have SO FAR lost 43 lbs!..I’ve had two knee surgeries; my knees haven’t felt this good in a long time…For the first time in years I actually ran two miles in under a half an hour.

I can tell you this; because of MY PERSONAL COMMITMENT combined with the Working Class Cardio Workout I have become more cognizant of what I shove in my pie hole and a more confident mentally and physically! Thanks Wiggy!”
-Eric W.

First of all – MAJOR CONGRATS to Eric. Him and I have traded a few emails along his journey, and though he has a lot more work in front of him to get where he wants to go, he’s been busting his ass and is doing an awesome job.

But I want you to take a look at what I put in put in all caps in his email – “MY PERSONAL COMMITMENT”.

Now, granted, he’s using a kickass program in the “Working Class Cardio Workout” (yeah, so I’m biased, sue me – lol), but he wouldn’t be getting *anywhere* if
he wasn’t putting in the work – no matter how good the workout was.

Eric told me one day via email that he just woke up one day, was tired of being overweight, and decided it was time to undergo a full body transformation, and has been completely dedicated to it ever since. And I know that it hasn’t been easy.

But, like the old saying goes – if it was easy, it wouldn’t be cool.

Do you have the same kinda commitment and work ethic Eric does? Think you have the “sack” to make a transformation in your own life?

If you do, then hook up that drive and motivation with a workout that will get you where you wanna go:

=>Get the “Working Class Cardio Workout” and make the changes you want

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