Customer Reviews

Brawn, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best bodybuilding books ever written. I have many old and new. It cuts through the hype and unrealistic pronouncements of the commercial magazines and provides essential and practical information. It illucidates clearly and emphatically one of the most substantive elements of productive bodybuilding i.e. the necessity of heavy leg work. I personally wasted many years of training, believing that I did not need to work my legs for results. After reading Brawn and therefore shifting my emphasis to include squats and deadlifts, results magically occurred. This book has the information to get you big and strong without resorting to drug use. It is a classic.

I got this book this year (2008) before the Summer. I wanted to try a new approach to my lifting.I'm 50 years old and have been hitting the weights since the 80's.I always OVERTRAINED.I went back to basics and made gains that were really impressive.I went from 160 to a pumped 180!Deadlifts/Rows/Presses/Squats are the foundation to his theory.Let me tell you ,It works.Not only for a Old Guy like me but my Teenage Son shot up like a Monster on 2 days a week!People accused him of using Roids but it was hard work..dedication and a lot of Chicken Breasts and Whey Shakes!I think people just starting out will make fantasitc gains as well as people who need to change up the routine for 6 months.Another thing I liked was I trained hard but had more time off from the Gym to to other things ! Give Brawn a Shot you will be glad you did.

I got this book after buying "Build muscle, lose fat.." (from Amazon), as I wanted to get McRobert's overall view on our physical body and weight resistance exercise. This was and is a needed book, for it gives much sensible advice and encouragement to the average man or woman. The view is more that from Everyman. In the "Build Muscle book he goes into much more detail about the individual weight exercises and posture and performance of them. Brawn is more the overall view.

When I started to lift weights many years ago, the first sensible counsel I got was from York Barbell magazines, Strength and Health, and Muscular Development, and then as I discovered it Iron Man. There writers like John Grimek, Harry Paschall, Brad Steiner, or Hoffman offered advice for beginners, then for intermediate experience weight athletes, that worked in real life. The beginner was given a good basic programme to start with, to gain some strength, and then led along.

These were far better than the weedy rags, I mean the weider magazines, which had a lot of hype, advertisement, gossip about bodybuilding, and routines that some top ifbb bodybuilders presumably(and may well have) used to train for the olympia or Mr. Universe. I would page through these at the news stand, and I remember about one article for the beginner.

I like McRobert's contribution real well. His books are one good place to begin. Rippetoe's book Starting Strength is another.

The only thing that bothered me was the tone of complaint, even though I agree with his complaint. He writes about the genetically blessed bodybuilders and their training, and how most folks fit into a hard gaining, or slower gaining reality of life. For these folks, his ideas on training are very useful and helpful. The book would be more pleasant to read in the early going if there were not so strong a tone of complaint, however much I agree with his basic point. For this I subtracted one star, even though it is a fine book that deals with so much real world training advice.

This book arguably has packed more muscle on more people than any other. I'm a very experienced lifter who has transformed his physique and attained a high degree of strength from following Mc Robert's advice over the past 8 years. And all this was done without neglecting career, family, hobbies and a social life as this book is aimed at real people with real lives. This book along with beyond brawn and the Insiders technique book (by the same author) are all you'll ever need to achieve your full potential for strength,health and fitness. Whatever type of trainee you are, whether powerlifter, fitness enthusiast, athlete or coach you will benefit tremendously.

As a natural weight trainer I felt this book was very useful for setting realistic targets for results. It not only suggested dimension targets based on natural growth, but also indicated the type of poundages that would be lifted to achieve these goals. Great resource. A must buy in the ocean of such books available.

This should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in bodybuilding or strength training. Stuart McRobert lays out in great details the fundamentals required to make anyone big and strong. Unlike 99% of fitness books available, this book contains ZERO BS and is aimed at training the natural lifter. No program of the month, no drugs, no supplements to buy, just sound training advice.

I also recommend Beyond Brawn and The Tell all book on Exercise technique also by Stuart McRobert. Super Squats by Randall J. Strossenis another good book to check out.

I class this book as one of my IRON BIBLES.... It has a great deal of solid information, facts, ideas, theory and will cut the garbage that is festering the strength training world, to pieces !!!! It has become the "light in the tunnel" that has transformed not only bodies, but minds and outlooks, on what really constitutes strength training. AWESOME BOOK.

Many of you would agree that many fitness magazines and books have gimmicks or workouts that might be extreme, but they never explain why you have to do this workout or that workout--all for the promise of a better physique or an increase in muscle mass. Mr. McRoberts "Brawn" is the first weightlifting book that answers all of my questions. Where am I (in measurements) in the grand scheme of weightlifting or even bodybuilding? How much should my 1RM be for an ideal pinnacle for a hardgainer? Why I should keep basic compound lifts such as the barbell bench press, the squat and the deadlift as critical parts of my workout regimen? He is very specific in his guidance, emphasizing constant progression with weights or reps, when you're probably overtraining and when to use intensifiers (i.e. negative reps, pause-reps, 21s/lucky 7s, isometric holds, etc.) All of this the author lays out in a practical manner. I started lifting weights as a teen 13 years ago, and I wish that I had this book then. I've acheived some results thoughout those years going here and there--this magazine, that magazine--this book, that book, trying what worked for others. But nowhere near as much as I would have had if I focused my workouts using the principles in this book. I've spent a lot of time looking around for something that works for us as hardgainers and I would challenge that others would be hardpressed to find another weightlifting book with about all of the info you need to keep a sound and safe workout regimen that will deliver that increase of muscle mass when all the basic principles are followed, as well as telling you WHY. It is definitely worth the look for someone with those goals who finds it hard to gain muscle like me. Ladies, he does address how you can use this book as well, but I have to admit the info's a little sparse.

As I write this review I am perfectly aware that the church of "hardgainer" will hate it. So let me start by saying that there is a lot of good old "cut the crap" in this book: most supplements are worthless, those which work are dangerous and illegal, good nutrition with real food is preferable, crazy high volume routines will likely overtrain you, and so on. All fine and dandy. And I also agree that the so called "ectomorph" (let us use this old, questionable yet accepted nomenclature) might thrive on a regimen of high calories intake and low volume/high intensity training. In fact I have trained my wife for years according to these same precepts. But how many women 5 feet 5 inches tall weight 92 pounds as she does? And, when I look around in my gym, how many ectomorphs do I see? Maybe five percent of the trainers? In fact, let me rephrase, how many good looking bodies can I spot? Very very few. And not because they can't lift enough.

In fact, I am typically surrounded by strong yet fat guys, crosses between farm-boys and gorillas, endowed with sizable potbellies, a double chin, and who can lift decent to heavy weight while grunting for a few reps, and then stop panting for minutes. Not to mention that most of them become fixated with a few power exercises (bench press typically) and develop severe asymmetries. I constantly see rotated arms, rolled shoulders, pecs dandling like old women tits, and postures that resembles that of a eight months pregnant woman: scorching back and shoulder pains must be common. The truth is, most people in the gym would look much more muscular if they could just drop twenty pounds. Sadly, physical excercise is typically their excuse for overeating.

So, I am not entirely sure they need further encouragement toward overeating, under-training, and less athletic routines with fewer exercises. Some might, granted, yet very few should. Most people could use some variety, an alternation between power moves and isolation, variations in volume and poundage, 2-3 hours of running every week, and of course a little order in their nutrition, if I am correct in assuming that their ultimate goal is aesthetic, functionality and health. Training and eating like a power-lifter will likely result in looking like a power-lifter; like crap, that is. If you like that look, then go for it, I doubt your woman (or any woman) will share your enthusiasm.

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ..and it isn't just a book is a guide to perfect your bodybuilding lifestyle not just your training.i am very happy i read it so i don't waste any other years in ineffective for me training.thanks cs publishing for a truly amazing,no hype,no bull book for us the hardgainers.

with respect

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