matthew mcconaughey workout

I have to start by offering an apology for misleading many of you on my previous article about Matthew McConaughey’s training philosophy.

All I did in that post was mention that “he sweats”, which I suppose made complete sense to me as the main point of the article, but left many of you readers wanting to know some specifics. After reading it, I feel that the message was received, but it was lacking in “how-to” knowledge. That is my error. I hope to redeem myself by sharing a decent little bodyweight workout with you today.

In honor of Spring of course.

Hopefully I can redeem myself here. I’m nervous.

The Mecca of the Midwest

As the weather warms up here in “God’s Country”, Eau Claire, WI, the doors begin to open to all sorts of opportunity for engaging in physical activity outside.

Training outside is the greatest. It’s freeing. The air is fresh (depending on where you live), the sun is beaming, and quite honestly, when you train outside the workout seems less monotonous than training indoors. Training inside year round can make you feel like a rat in a laboratory.

[Segue…]

Alright, let’s talk about Matthew McConaughey’s workout, because that is why we are gathered here today.

Super awkward that I had to post this pic, but needed the visual.

Let’s face it, guy has the kind of body aesthetics that women drool over and men want, yet his theory on physical activity and what it takes to maintain his physique is so incredibly simple. I love that. Why complicate matters?

Performance-wise, I’m not entirely sure how strong the guy is, if he has aches and pains or any sort of endurance. But aesthetically he is doing alright.

Just sweat everyday… doing something.

I received a lot of interest in the previous article, so I should probably man up and post a workout of his… ahemmmm… or at least a workout that I believe he may enjoy participating in.

Well, ok… maybe it’s just a workout that I designed with the thought that if he and I were hanging out, he would enjoy working through it with me. Based on some of his older interviews in Men’s Health, he tends to avoid the gym whenever possible in favor of training outside in a more natural environment.

Equipment: None (although a heart rate monitor is highly encouraged)

Time commitment: 30 minutes-ish

Difficulty: 3/5

*** Warm up***

Start with a 5 minute run at 70-75% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Run #1) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

—> Recover to 130 bpm

a) 20 Push Ups (no rest leading into the run)

Run #2) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

—> Recover to 130 bpm

b) 20 Reverse Lunges (no rest leading into the run)

Run#3) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Recover to 130 bpm

c) 20 Bodyweight Squats (no rest leading into the run)

Run#4) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

–> Recover to 130 bpm

d) 20 Burpees (no rest leading into the run)

Finish with a 5 minute run at 70-75% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Buy a heart rate monitor.

If you are going to take your cardio training seriously, you need to be monitoring your work bouts and your recovery time with a heart rate monitor. Buy the cheapest version Polar sells if you are concerned with cost. It will work just fine and help guide your training. The heart rate monitor will give you insight into your progress.

On the 2 minute run, which is the “work” portion of the session, you’ll notice that I suggest running at a pace that is 80-85% of your heart rate max. The easiest way to figure out your heart rate max is to get on a treadmill, crank it up to a ridiculously high speed and incline, and sprint until your vision becomes blurry. The test ends when the treadmill spits you off.

JUST KIDDING!

Seriously, don’t do that. However, there are some equations that you can use. Most heart rate related formulas have some flaws in them. They are just formulas, estimations, so this makes sense. The Karvonen formula is “the best of the worst” when it comes to finding max heart rate. No matter which formula you choose, remember that your heart rate “training zones” are going to be ESTIMATED. I’d rather you use these formulas than the really old school method of finding heart rate, which is nothing more than 220-(Your Age). 220-your age is quick, but there is a lot of room for error.

Recover to 130 bpm after each run prior to working through each bodyweight exercise. Recovering to 130bpm will keep your training efforts aerobically challenging and also provide an beats per minute (BPM) mark to green light the next work bout. Recovering based on time is ok in a pinch, but recovering based on when you heart is ready to go again is preferred. Your body will let you know when it’s time to go back to work.

The bodyweight strength movements that follow the rest periods are integrated to break up the monotony of running and provide a low load resistance based training stimulus. Don’t expect to build great amounts of strength from just 20 reps of any of those movements. If fact, let me re-phrase that last sentence… You will not build strength from those exercises. Not at that rep count, with bodyweight load, etc. Unless you are relatively reconditioned (which isn’t a bad thing) or new to purposeful exercise. You may experience some strength gains, but I would rather see you work through a dedicated strength program at that point.

Scale the workout. Run for less time if you need to. Decrease the reps on the bodyweight moves if you need to.

Or, if you are battle hardened, increase the running time, add a few more rounds of bodyweight moves, etc.

Take your training outside and get some fresh air. It will change the training experience.

Cheers to breaking up the monotony of running!

I will never forget the day that I picked up a Men’s Health magazine in college and read an article about Matthew McConaughey’s workouts.

Like many young males, I was fascinated by what Men’s Health was writing about health. I spent a decent chunk of cash (which I had very little of) to keep my subscription, buying training manuals and such

I don’t remember what the guy does to stay in shape, but it is pretty obvious:

He eats clean.
He moves frequently.

You might be disappointed by my repetitive preaching of eating clean and moving smart, but it’s the only real formula that you need to reverse years of body pollution.

It’s a bullet proof technique for restoring your body.

In the Men’s Health article, I remember Matthew McConaughey commenting on his training regimen by saying…

The print is tiny, so in case you can’t quite make out what the quote is, I will help you. It says:

What a great training plan!

After I read that quote, I distinctly remember being pissed.

I thought for sure- as many guys probably did- that he was going to disclose some sweet top secret workout regimen.

I was convinced that he was doing something special that the rest of us were aware of. There had to be something else going on there.

You probably have had that feeling before, right? The feeling where you are convinced that someone- who has achieved something that you also want to achieve-knows some kind of voodoo magic that you flat out don’t know anything about. And because of the fact that they have harnessed the power of this voodoo magic, they’ve got an edge over everyone else on the planet. You, in turn, want to know what this voodoo magic is so that you yourself can experience the kinds of results that they have.

Then you you realize that none of this is true. A lean person’s (famous or not) recipe for success is the same as nearly every other successful person on the planet… they created good habits, worked relentlessly, learned along the way and rinsed and repeated that process. They figured out that they have to do un-aveerage things to achieve un-average results.

I have to admit that I was brutally disappointed with the Matthew McConaughey “sweat theory”. Again, pissed, might be a much better description.

Genetically, he is blessed to stay as lean as he does, but he also makes a dedicated effort to give his body decent food and he sweats! So his body aesthetics are by chance. He worked for it and now he performs a simple maintenance whenever he gets the opportunity.

Everyday, he sweats.

This has actually stuck with me ever since I read that article, and I am glad that it did.

I get a sweat every single day. Even after a night of socializing with friends (and a boatload of craft beers) it is mandatory to sweat the next day. It’s a simple theory that I took action on long enough to make it a lifelong habit.

It’s so easy to fall into the “there has to be something out there that I am not doing that would make all of the difference in the world” trap. So easy. We trick ourselves into thinking this sort of thing. We then begin to search and search and search for the “secrets”. We try different diets, different personal trainers, different gyms, shoes, training equipment, workout plans, etc. When it’s all said and done, a lot of people have blown mountains of money on “secrets”. It’s enough to drive a person crazy, and I have met a lot of people that are slowly driving themselves insane looking for these secrets.

But the recipe is simple: eat clean and move enough to sweat.

Take that and do it EVERY SINGLE DAY.

It will blow your mind what a recipe like that will do for you over the long-term.

Cheers to Matthew McConaughey and the daily sweat!

M(eaux)tion Fitness

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Redemption: The Matthew McConaughey Ninja Bodyweight Workout

The Matthew McConaughey Workout Plan

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