Ok mofos – I’ve got a rant coming on. Take the kiddies to the next room, put in your earplugs, and keep your ass-holes puckered (I mean your sphincters – not that prick that lives next door), because I’m about to go off.

So my good buddy Andy Hepler (of Hepler Strength & Conditioning) sends me a video link he found the other day. The video is of some guy (have no idea who it was, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you) performing a new 1RM on the Front Squat.

I forget exactly how much weight it was, but between the barbell and plates itself, and all the chains he had on it, it was roughly 500 pounds. Pretty damn impressive, right?

Yeah, but…

**Quick Side Note – sure seems like I’ve been running across a lot of shit lately that I’ve been saying “Yeah, but…” to lately. Like this market presentation I watched the other night. Whole damn thing was pretty much a sham. Did the guy’s methods do what he said they did? Sort of…they’d work for literally a few hours. A day or two at the most if you were lucky. Which is fine for the bullshit kinda tactics he uses them for, but it’s not what the vast majority of the population is looking for (or why they showed up to his presentation in the first place). In other words, it was unusable bullshit. But could he do what he promised? Yeah, but…

Had somebody else ask me about the “Hollywood Diet”. You know, that dumbass deal that promises to help you lose like 10-12 pounds over the weekend if you just drink their special juice/drink/shake extract shit? (Holy hell that shit looks nasty.) The thing their ads don’t tell you is that yeah, you’ll lose the 10-12 pounds…all because all you do is drink their nasty crap with a bunch of water (no eating), which is full of diuretics to make you piss your brains out. After 2 days, YAY!! You just pissed away 10 pounds. Good for now. Now, when you go back to a decent diet (or eat anything period – whichever comes first) and actually start retaining some fluids, guess the fuck what? You guessed it sparky, you gain all the weight back. But will the “Hollywood Diet” help you lose a bunch of weight in 2 days? Yeah, but…

/end side rant

That’s how I felt about this video.

I mean, wanted to be happy for the guy, and for damn sure I can’t Front Squat that much, so good on him. But with everything that surrounded the damn lift itself, I just had to shake my head and say, “Dude…fucking really?”

This video was around five and a half minutes long. Five and a half fucking minutes. And how much work did he do in five and a half minutes?

One. Stinkin’. Rep.

In five and a half minutes.

The rest of the time, he spent getting ready for this massive attempt. You know the drill – suit, knee wraps (that alone took him forever), and all the other bullshit. He does his one rep, re-racks the bar, and is done.

People, here’s the thing – is that impressive? Like I said – hell yeah, it is.

But is it USEFUL? HELL to the NO.

(^Holy shit, did I just say ‘hell to the no’? Jeez, I might have to kick my own ass.)

If you’re a powerlifter, and all you do is work out so that you can lift heavier weights while suited up, wrapped up, shirted up, arched up, mono-lifted up, chuck taylor’ed up, and whatever-the-blue-fuck-else’d up, just so that three ass clowns can tell you that you made a good lift, then have at it.

(PLEASE NOTE – I am NOT against powerlifting. I’m all for getting stronger. But I think much of the sport has gone off the deep end with regards to all the equipment they use, the politics, and the judging. I’m no p-lifting ‘expert’, but I’ve seen enough vids on youtube where a guy got 2 or 3 reds that made me think “WTF?” that I know that the judging is just as subjective there, as it is in bodybuilding. So much for the genuine and innocent nature of lifting – either you can lift the damn bar or you can’t.)

But the vast majority of the population lift for other reasons – namely, to improve other activities or areas of their lives.

Some might be athletes, and need to be strong and conditioned in order to play their sport at the highest level possible.

Some might have physical, manual labor jobs, and being in shape just makes their daily ‘bread-winning’ easier to do.

Some might be law enforcement, military, fire/EMS, or the like. Being able to perform at peak physical levels here can literally mean saving your own ass…or somebody else’s.

Some might just wanna improve their quality of life. Be strong (in body, mind, and character). I’ve ranted enough about this before, so I won’t now.

Whatever the reason is, getting stronger in the gym (or faster, or more conditioned, or more explosive, or bigger, or whatever) is a sort of means to an end. You spend the time training, so that you’re now better at something else.

Well, here’s the thing – how much of that suited, knee-wrapped, take forever to get ready, massive Front Squat is ole boy gonna be able to translate over into ‘real life’?

Pretty damn little.

Meanwhile, in the background of this video, there is a little blonde girl doing Squats. Now, the fact alone that this girl was even doing Squats (and out of squat stands no less) already ups her ‘cool factor’ a couple notches in my book, but I digress…

She wasn’t squatting a ton of weight – couldn’t tell if she had 10s or 25s on the bar. Either way, the most she was using was only 95 pounds. Might have even been only 65. Yet, in the five and a half minutes of this video, where big boy gets dressed, psyched up, situated just right, etc, this girl does three sets of Squats in the background, each looking to be 10-12 reps each.

So…in the same five and a half minutes, you’ve got 30-40 reps…vs…1 rep.

Uh huh.

Yeah, yeah, yeah – I know. She’s using a “wimpy weight” (as my buddy Andy put it – LMAO), and this dude is putting up around a quarter ton. I get it.

Here’s the thing though – out in the real world (whatever the ‘real world’ means to you…as long as it’s not that douche-bag show on MTV), which one do you think is gonna be able to better call on their training? Which one is more useful and/or applicable?

Hate to hell you this fellas, but it’s the girl.

Think about it – whatever weight this girl was doing Squats with, the strength, balance, coordination, work capacity, and all the other physical processes that go into letting her do her reps like she was, are all something she can likely access at any fucking time she wants. She didn’t need a belt, or wraps, or a suit, or whatever. She just needed to get under the bar – wearing shorts, t-shirt, and cross-trainers – and do it. So that means all the strength, balance, etc I was talking about is something she can apply in virtually any situation, no matter what.

THAT is the purpose of training – being able to apply all these newly created abilities whenever and wherever you want to.

Think big boy can apply all the strength, balance, coordination, etc it took to do that massive Front Squat, and apply it whenever and wherever he wants?

Just like Vince McMahon’s entrance music says – No Chance In Hell.

Really, it reminds me of when I was growing up, and my dad and I would talk about drag racing, and how bogus a lot of these ‘street legal’ drag racing divisions were. Ok, let’s take a look at the car that’s dominating the national circuit in the ‘street legal’ (or whatever the hell it’s called) class. Big spoiler for downforce. Lenco racing transmission. Spindle-mounted front wheels. Wheelie bar. Parachute. Insane rear-end gear ratios.

Yeah…make no mistake about it. This car might meet all the bare minimum state requirements to be considered ‘street legal’, and might even be able to get licensed/registered, but don’t think for a fucking SECOND that you’re gonna be driving this thing down to the corner grocery store for a gallon of milk.

‘Street legal’ my ass. Yeah, but…

Well, this dude and his monster Front Squat are the same damn thing. If he can’t call upon the abilities (or the equipment) that help him move that much weight in real life, then what the hell is the point?

And before anybody starts going nuts on their keyboard, I know – he still has massive squatting power, and this is increasing his overall abilities (in many of the areas I mentioned before), so he can do more in ‘real’ situations. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Bullshit.

As far as usability in real life goes, this guy would be much better off using weights he can handle w/o all the equipment, wraps, and shit, and getting better at moving those weights. Be more explosive, do it for more reps, need less rest, etc.

Screw all this ‘prep’ stuff.

That’s why when I put together workouts, I like to think ‘big-picture’. Not just what can this workout help you do in the weight room or gym, but how will it make you better in real life?

Because really, shouldn’t that be why we train?

Like my muscle building workouts in Body Armor. There are people doing that program now that have:

-prepared for bodybuilding competitions (and been in their best ever condition)

-gotten a lot stronger (hell, I found out last night that two women each increased their Squat 3RM by roughly 45 pounds in just two months)

-are in a ton better shape (what was that one email I got…something about “I just feel like my gas tank doesn’t ever empty now?”)

And these are all people that do real shit, in real life. No gym-only bunnies here. And that’s all from the same exact workout program.

So why don’t you hop on the bandwagon, and start improving what you can do…no matter what…or when.

=>CLICK HERE to get Body Armor – the programs that make you better a more bitchin’ version of you

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

As many of y’all know now, I’ve got new muscle building workouts out call “Body Armor”.

My good buddy Andy, of Hepler Strength & Conditioning in Thomasville, NC has just restarted the final version of the program. (I had Andy beta testing the workouts initially, and I tweaked them based on his and others’ feedback.)

Well, here is part of an email Andy sent me yesterday:

“Was sweating heavily and ‘feeling it’, but felt good the rest of the day for doing the workout… Like today was hard but I felt good afterwards…It’s not just semantics. There is ‘hard in a good way’ and there is ‘so hard I can do it, but I pay the price for the next 4 days hard’.

What I like so far about Body Armor is that it’s the ‘hard in a good way’ workouts…Anyway just wanted to let you know I really like it so far.”

Thanks Andy – I appreciate it, man.

Here’s the deal, if you’re interested in a program that will:

-build a muscular, good-looking, and usable physique
-help you become stronger & more explosive
-not fry your CNS (see ya later overtraining!)
-develop ‘power-conditioning’ so that you not only become more powerful, but also lose some bodyfat along the way
-be more athletic
-be a very well-balanced, “all around” program

Then you really should give Body Armor a look.

=>Click Here & Check out “Body Armor”

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

PS – almost forgot – got a quick tip from my long-time customer & buddy, Chad Minor yesterday. He said that he’s been mixing his creatine w/sugar-free Red Bull. He said it tastes better than usual, gives him some extra energy, and has been leading to some great workouts! Give it a shot and see if it works for you.

My very good friend Andy Hepler (of Hepler Strength & Conditioning) has put together another compilation video of the athletes training in his gym.

In case you haven’t seen my posts about Andy & his gym in the past, Andy runs a sports performance gym in Thomasville, NC, where he trains middle and high school athletes, as well as a few “regular joes/janes”.

Andy bring an unrelenting intensity to his gym, and his athletes train & work harder than almost anybody I know. I’ve put some of Andy’s athletes through workouts, and they’re all monsters.

Due to their hard work, Andy’s athletes accomplish some pretty kickass honors, to include being awarded college scholarships to play basketball, baseball, & football; winning high school combines; and breaking PRs pretty much daily.

Andy just put together a compilation video of some of the training that’s been going on at his gym this summer. Watch it below.

WARNING – the background music is NSFW (if that kinda thing bothers you).

WARNING #2 – unless you attack your workouts with a crazy ferocity on a normal basis, get ready to feel like a complete pansy-ass, because you’re about to watch a bunch of kids that train harder than you do.

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