So y’all know I’m not big on the supplement industry as a whole. In fact, any of y’all that have been around for a long time (since the beginning) will remember my rants and raves I published about the supplement industry and all their BS in my first “Singles & Doubles” book (available here).

Yeah, I bet that one ain’t gonna win me any friends at Weider or TwinLab.

Well, while not much has changed (I still think most supplement companies are a bunch of lying money grubbers), there is one company on the market now that I actually like – to the point that I even endorse/support/affiliate/(insert whatever term here) them – GI Nutrition.

Now, I’ve talked about GI Nutrition before, and why I liked them. Their products are:

-completely all-natural (no BS filler crap)

-priced well (a lot cheaper than most other supplement companies)

-actually taste good (and w/o gobs of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and all that other junk…who’d have thunk it possible?)

-better than all that…WORK (Their “Ideal Recovery” post-workout drink has be used to believe how awesome it makes you feel)

-plus, I’ve talked w/most of the dudes at GI at one point or another…all good folks

If you’ve been following GI at all, you know they’re buddies w/Joe DeFranco (you know, the guy who has trained a list of NFL #1 draft picks a mile long). And, you might remember that a while back, DeFranco put out his own energy bar. Well, GI Nutrition has taken over where Joe left off, renamed the bar, and is now producing/selling it.

It’s called Focus Food.

I first heard of Focus Food via GI’s and DeFranco’s posts on Facebook. (Who isn’t on Facebook these days?) When I got the gist of what Focus Food was all about, I knew I had to try some. So I got up w/my buddies at GI, and soon some was in the mail.

Now, if you don’t know what Focus Food is, it’s basically a combination protein and energy bar.

Each bar has:

-only 230 calories
-22g protein
-6g fiber
-17 different vitamins & minerals
-115mg caffeine
-1500mg tyrosine
-literally nothing artificial in it…everything all natural

So basically, you’ve got a bar that has a good chunk of protein in it, a bunch of fiber, no artificial crap, and the caffeine/tyrosine combo to give you a massive energy boost. (Oh, and by the way, Focus Food was also designed so that it meets strict testing standards, in that nobody participating in any sort of sanctioned sporting events where drug testing takes place will ever come up with a ‘false positive’. Know how some of those crazed out stimulant supplements can actually cause you to fail a piss test? Not gonna happen w/Focus Food.)

Yeah, could you see why I was so amped up to try it out?

Well, last week they finally came – thing is, is that I didn’t know it! It was another late summer/early fall day, so I took my DBs outside, and actually worked out in my back yard. It was an ass-kicker, too – started off w/yoga/flexibility work, then a bunch of bodyweight GPP/dynamic warm-up, back to a little more flexibility work, then a crap ton of Double DB Clean & PushPresses, DB Raise Rows, and intense complex finishers (involving DB Snatches, Jumps, Swings, and Burpees).

Needless to say, I was toast at the end.

Well, I get done, and head out front of the house check the mail. What do I see? A box sitting on my porch! I run up there and DUN-DA-DA-DUN!! It’s a FedEx box from my boys at GI Nutrition!

(When the hell did FedEx show up, anyway? *shrug*)

So I get it inside and am tear it open to marvel at my box of Focus Food and new GI Nutrition swag. (New stuff is always cool…lol.)

I’ve got one massive problem though…I seriously wanna try a Focus Food, but I just got DONE working out! Focus Food (w/its caffeine and tyrosine) is much better-suited for pre-workout…not post-workout.

I was bummed, but just figured I’d wait until the next day to try one out. Yeah…that lasted all of about 10 minutes. I just had to have one.

Very first thing I noticed – DeFranco had said in a video that Focus Food tasted great. Yeah…Ok. I mean, I’m sure it tasted Ok for a protein/energy bar (they only taste so good anyway), but it probably wasn’t all that. Well, was I wrong. It tasted AWESOME! I was literally in shock of how good Focus Food tastes (esp when you consider there’s no artificial flavorings or whatever in it). My box had been sitting outside in the sun for a while, so the bars where kinda warm and soft – like maybe you’d heated it up in the microwave for 10 secs or so.

MMMMMMMMMMMM…

“HOLY CRAP that’s good!” I thought.

Now remember, I had just finished up a pretty intense workout, so I was fairly tired…trashed even. Literally inside of 5 minutes I was feeling better, and had a bit more energy! (HELLLLLLOOOO TYROSINE! lol) And I never ‘crashed’ like you do with other stimulants and such – I felt great the rest of the day.

The next day, I couldn’t wait to try Focus Food out before my workout. I really don’t like eating before I work out (and if y’all remember, I usually don’t eat at all during the day anyway), so I had one roughly 45-60 mins before I knew I was gonna train. I figured this would be a good test as not only would that initial energy surge you get from many stimulants be gone (meaning it’d be a more true measure of Focus Food’s energy giving characteristics), but it also wouldn’t make me feel like I had something on my stomach (which I just don’t like).

Results? I felt like a damn madman during my workout – more energy than I friggin’ knew what to do with, felt stronger & more powerful, and even felt like I was recovering quicker between hard sets.

Since then, I’ve experimented w/taking Focus Food at different times, as there are a ton of different ways you could use it. Remember – Focus Food isn’t just for athletes. Like the guys at GI Nutrition say – “Work Day to Game Day”.

You could:

-take Focus Food 30-45 mins before you train (Alex Karsos – one of the head honchos at GI Nutrition – told me that DeFranco has his NFL guys eat one 30-45 mins before their game, or half the bar before the game, and the rest at halftime)

-if you’re just a regular dude (or dudette) working a “9-to-5″, take it in the afternoon as that mid-day ‘pick me up’ instead of more coffee, an energy drink, or some sorta sugary snack

-first thing in the morning as almost a substitute for breakfast and your morning coffee (great for busy folks)

As you can see, with all its awesome characteristics, Focus Food is highly versatile. But how do I take it?

Well, for me, like I said – I don’t like eating right before I work out. And many of you know that I like to practice a style of Intermittent Fasting.

In other words, I don’t eat during the day, instead opting to consume all my calories in a large meal – sometimes called an End of Day (EOD) refeed – at night. If you’re new to Intermittent Fasting, I highly recommend THIS BOOK as a primer on IF…CLICK HERE.

Though as a whole, I generally have a ton more energy when I only eat at night, sometimes I feel a little puny in the afternoon – especially if I’ve had a hard workout. So, what I find works best for me is to have a Focus Food first thing in the morning (in fact, I just ate one while working on this blog post!).

It gets me going, has fiber in it to keep me feeling satiated (not to mention ‘regular’ – LOL), and also gets some protein in my system. In my mind, Focus Food is a virtually perfect fit for people who eat on an Intermittent Fasting schedule.

So what is the overall verdict on Focus Food? A perfect 10. Two thumbs up. Five gold stars. Excellent. (You get the idea…)

Do this:

1 – CLICK HERE TO GO TO GI NUTRITION’S WEBSITE AND ORDER FOCUS FOOD

2 – While you’re ordering, when you get to the box that allows you to enter in a promo code, enter in “WIGGY” (<- all caps)…this will SAVE YOU 10%

3 – Wait impatiently for your shipment to arrive (lol)

4 – Start taking Focus Food in whatever manner you feel is right for you (I recommend it as a part of an Intermittent Fasting eating plan)

5 – Be Awesome

And when you email the guys at GI Nutrition to let them know how much you like Focus Food, be sure to tell them that Wiggy sent ya…

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

A few days back, I made mention in a blog post that I had gotten a question about Intermittent Fasting (IF).

If you’ve been reading my blog or newsletters for any decent amount of time now, you should be well acquainted with IF. But, just in case you’re not, a quick primer to IF is this:

-eat
-don’t eat for an extended period of time (anywhere from 18 to 36 hours) – usually during the day
-eat
-repeat

Simple enough, right? Sure is. But why would you go on an eating plan like this? I could give you a laundry list of reasons, ranging from:

-fat loss (it’s an easy way to reduce calories)
-freedom from food and eating (not having to cook, eat, bring food with you, or find food can really free up a lot more time during the day than you think)
-muscle gain (when you starve your body of protein, it can go into “oh shit!” mode, and when it gets it again, it goes into overdrive to utilize as much of it as possible)
-simply giving your digestive system a “rest”
-increased energy (you’d be surprised how much better you have when you simply just don’t have food in your system all the damn time)
-the feeling of just not being full all the time
-getting to enjoy a nice meal when you’re done

In fact, you do IF long enough, and you’ll find that you almost “re-program” your body to an extent. I’ve found that when I do IF very strictly for a number of weeks, the amount of food I end up needing – or even wanting – ends up radically decreasing. (Which incidentally, ends up leading to even more fat loss and more energy. Just sayin’.

Now, more than once I’ve recommended Brad Pilon’s book “Eat Stop Eat” as a great initial resource to IF. I know there’s a lot of science to the “why” of IF and it working, but truth be told…just between you & me…I don’t care. I know it works, and I’ve talked to enough other people who tell me the same (both “gurus” and regular joes). Good enough for me. No need to beat the thing to death, you know?

What Brad recommends in “Eat Stop Eat” is a virtually perfect way for most people to get started down the path of IF, and for many, it’s all they’ll ever need. I’m not gonna give away the farm, but Brad’s method of IF involves fasting completely for a couple days/week, and eating fairly normally other days.

To get Brad’s complete recommendations, not to mention to learn the “whys” behind what he says works, then be sure to pick up a copy of “Eat Stop Eat”. I highly recommend it b/c not only is it a great book on IF, but is also written for us “regular guys” in mind – no fancy language or overly complex terms when it’s not needed. Definitely worth the purchase price.

As for myself, what I do is something slightly different. I actually do IF every single day, but do it for shorter periods. So, instead of fasting for an overly extended period of time, I just fast overnight and through the next day. Come the evening time, I break my fast with a protein shake first, then a good meal, and maybe even a snack or two. I try to keep all my caloric intake for the day in a 4-5 hour window, and not eat the rest of the day. So, if I have my protein shake at 5:00pm, I won’t eat again after 9:00-9:30pm until the following evening.

But what do you do if you just can’t make it that long without eating? Well…you just friggin’ eat a little something. Duh.

For example, say you have a serving or two of a high-fiber cereal in skim milk or a little rolled oats in water plus a scoop of protein powder in the AM. If you can get away with doing just that, you’ll have taken in likely less than 300 calories. If that isn’t enough, have a small whey protein shake during the day, or maybe a can of tuna or a piece of grilled chicken. When all is said and done, by the time you get to your evening meal, you’ve still only taken in likely 500 calories total for the day…maybe 600. Hell, you could have a very large and fulfilling evening meal then, and still have taken in maybe only 2000 calories for the day.

Keep the overwhelming majority of the calories protein, plenty of fibrous veggies (which tend to be very, very low calorie anyway), and you end up full, plenty of protein, and losing weight.

See, you wanna keep the big picture in mind here – in the end, the thing that’s gonna help you with losing the weight the most is the fact that you’re simply taking in fewer calories than you’re burning up. You know?

And Intermittent Fasting is a great way to do that – about my favorite way.

Seriously – I highly recommend you try it. But don’t necessarily jump in with both feet right away. I do my little style of IF virtually everyday – I might only have one day/week that I don’t. (And when I don’t, I generally end up feeling like crap the next day.) Being hungry sucks ass, and when you first get started on IF, I won’t sugar-coat it – you’re gonna be hungry.

Like real hungry.

Like “get the hell outta my way and gimme damn some meat to eat before I tear a hole in your ass” hungry.

LOL

So ease into at first. Go get “Eat Stop Eat” and go by Brad’s instructions. When you find yourself going good on that, then progress from there.

=>CLICK HERE to pick up “EAT STOP EAT” and get started on your own Intermittent Fasting eating plan

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

Got a pretty good question via email today, and figured I’d share it w/y’all.

Basically, it went like this – a guy had just recently got my new muscle building programs, and wanted to know if they’d still be Ok to use as he was trying to cut some bodyfat and “lean out”. His concern was that when trying to lose, a program w/a little higher volume can be kinda tough to keep up with and recover from.

In the end, he wanted know if Body Armor was a program that he could still go on while still trying to lose bodyfat.

The simple answer to this is – yes.

We all know that to lose bodyfat, you have to burn up more calories than you take in. You have to have a what’s called a ‘caloric deficit’.

Now, to do that, you can go one of two routes:

1 – the more traditional route is to simply eat less and/or better, thereby taking in fewer calories

2 – you could also keep your caloric intake the same and just work more (given that you eat mostly clean, that is…trying to outwork downing a box of Twinkies everyday – lol)

When it comes to being in a caloric deficit, all that matters is that you’re burning up more calories than you’re taking in.

Think about that for a minute – you could theoretically eat *more* than you usually do. As long as you increase your activity level by a commensurate amount.

(In fact, this is the kinda thing nutrition guru John Berardi advocates with his “G-flux” programs – eating more and working even more than that…leads to building muscle while reducing bodyfat percentage.)

And of course, don’t forget that if you wanted to lean out and are in a caloric deficit, it’s only smart to do some heavy weight training (like is in Body Armor) to ensure that your body doesn’t turn on itself and start burning muscle for energy instead of fat stores.

So, where does that get us?

Body Armor is a program that is not only kickass for:

-building muscle
-increasing strength
-becoming more powerful
-improving your physique

But it’s also kickass (esp w/the intense conditioning that’s involved!) losing bodyfat while do all of the above.

Sounds like a cool combination, to me.

=>CLICK HERE TO BUILD MUSCLE, GET STRONGER, AND GET LEAN

Have a kickass weekend.

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

One of the things that I’m getting asked a lot lately is about protein – how much should somebody get in each day, and what’s the best way to get it?

Well, it depends on what your goals are. If you’re looking to put some size on (which, admittedly, most of the guys asking me this have been the ones that have just gotten their hot little hands on “Body Armor”, my new muscle building programs), then the best overall consensus recommendation is one gram per pound of bodyweight.

(Unless, of course, you’re like massively obese or something, in which case, putting size on *probably* shouldn’t be your first priority – LOL.)

Best sources of protein should always be real food…fatty fish, chicken breast, red meat, etc.

But, sometimes it’s easier to down a quick protein shake, right? Yeah, it is.

What brand should you use, though? I mean, there’s about 19 zillion different ones at your local GNC! Well, skip ‘em all. Some of ‘em might be Ok, but I got exactly where you should go instead:

=>GI Nutrition

Check the guys at GI Nurition out. Their “Ideal” line of supplements (their protein is “Ideal Whey”) are seriously awesome. I mean, I *never* thought I’d endorse a supplement company – and I do these guys. And I got in w/these dudes early. Hell, I think I was like in the first ten coaches and trainers who endorsed them.

That’s how much I believe in these guys. Their stuff is that good. And the super-cool thing is that Ideal Whey is:

-loaded w/BCAAs
-contains glutamine
-really easy to mix
-CHEAP (<–probably the #1 reason I like it – hahaha!)
-all natural (as in there is *nothing* artificial in *any* of their supps!)

The best thing though…it doesn’t taste like crap. I mean, their chocolate-flavored Ideal Whey tastes *really* good. I made the mistake of letting my 10-year old daughter taste it one day, now she wants me to make her protein shakes all the time…you’d think this stuff was ice cream!

LOL

Listen, I can’t say enough about the guys at GI Nutrition, and how awesome their stuff is. Go check ‘em out, and if you’re smart, you’ll pick up some of their stuff (their pre- and post-workout drinks kick serious ass, too). =>CLICK HERE

**MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS**

When you order, be sure to use the promo code “WIGGY” (all caps) b/c when you do, you’ll save yourself 10%.

(I wanted to make sure you guys got the ‘hook up’, you know?

So go check ‘em out…GI is getting the good word from guys like Joe DeFranco (that alone should tell you they’re legit!), me, my buddy Andy Hepler of Hepler Strength & Conditioning (you’ve seen me post his athletes’ videos, right?), and a ton
more.

Trust me – you’ll be glad you did.

Muscle Building Workouts | Muscle Building Programs | Cardio Fitness | MMA Workout | MMA Training

PS – Have you got your copy of Body Armor yet? If not, WTF are you waiting for? lol =>CLICK HERE TO GET BIG

I get a lot of questions on diet, nutrition, and that kinda thing.

Well, there are about as many different answers to nutrition questions as there are training questions. And like training, in one way or another, they’re all “right” and all can “work”. It’s just that some stuff works better than others.

For me, when it comes to an eating plan, nothing has ever worked better than not eating during the whole day, and just having all my food in a few hour ‘window’ at night.

It’s called “Intermittent Fasting” – sometimes also called “End of Day (EOD) Refeeds”.

Why do I like it?

-I don’t have to worry about eating throughout the day

-I find myself feeling a lot “lighter” w/o always having food in my system

-my energy levels have skyrocketed

-It sucks at first being hungry during the day (you get used to it pretty quick, though), but the idea of getting to eat a big, fulfilling meal – instead of some pansy-ass, calorie counted meal – makes you get through it

-I can actually be a little more ‘flexible’ w/my diet, and still be good – case in point, a couple nights ago, my dinner consisted of a smaller protein shake, a huge piece of grilled chicken, and 3 beers (lol)

Trust me – this way of eating rocks.

Why does it work? There are a ton of reasons, but I’d rather explaining them to people that know more about diet than I do.

So, if you’re smart, first thing you’ll do is start taking in all your calories at the end of the day.

Second thing you’ll do is check out “Eat, Stop, Eat” – the best resource available on Intermittent Fasting / EOD Refeed style eating.

=>CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

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