48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
There are much better books for skinny guys, January 16, 2007
This review is from: The Hardgainer's Body Building Handbook: Workouts, Nutrition, and Results (Paperback)
This book consists of:
71 pages of large print, illustrated, generic information. 15 of those pages cover the basic information about hardgainers, but probably nothing you didn't already know. The remaining 56 pages contain the same basic information you'd read in any Muscle and Fitness magazine or the like. Eat a lot, take these supplements, rest, work out.
The remaining 200 pages are photos (with one page explanations) of the same basic exercises anyone who has every strength trained or bought a bodybuilding magazine has seen before: pure recycled material.
The workouts included are almost ridiculous, and even though I've been weight training for several years, I found most of them impractical. For example, 10 sets of 10 pull-ups with 1 minute rest in between (after 100 reps of inclined barbell presses with no rest). It's sort of like someone saying, "Oh, you want to build up your endurance--why don't you run 20km everyday then?" While the book explicitly states it is aimed for folks who have already been doing weight training for 6 months, I found that most of its workouts are simply impossible for even the above-average fitness buff.
Basically, this book is a waste of your money and time if you are really looking for information and a fitness program to put that 10 pounds on your frame that you've been hoping for. It's just another generic bodybuilding book like a dozen others on my shelf, although it is a little less informative than most of those others.
A much BETTER selection, both in terms of content and realism, is Mejia's and Berardi's "Scrawny to Brawny." Here's why:
1) They actually provide real information about what makes a hardgainer a hardgainer rather than the same old, "Oh, it's the fast twitch/slow twitch difference." Not only that, they do a good job telling you what you can do about it.
2) The information they provide is not generic but is aimed at "scrawny guys" rather than rehashing the same old stuff and putting it under a new label.
3) They don't just show you a bunch of dumb pictures of guys doing an exercise with a kindergarten-level explanation, but instead show you how to do them in a way that maximizes their effects for YOU as a hardgainer (someone who probably has shorter muscles, longer tendons, longer limbs, and predominantly slow-twitch muscle fiber composition).
4) The exercise routines are tough, but they are at least realistic.
Do they work? I'll let you know in six months.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Plan That Will Work If You Are Extremely Motivated!, October 30, 2005
This review is from: The Hardgainer's Body Building Handbook: Workouts, Nutrition, and Results (Paperback)
This book has great illustrations of exercises, nutrition plans, and workout plans but only for those who are exceptionally motivated. The nutrition plan is particularly hard to follow but I think if you use it only as a supplement to an already good eating plan it is workable. The workout plans are also very difficult to keep up with and to do in a traditional health club. I have to go as late as possible to my club because the supersets in the plan require alternating between equipment which stays very busy duing peak hours. I only rated this book three stars because of its difficulty for the busy adult to keep up with. However, if you are the self motivating type then you will benefit greatly from this book.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly sucks .. with some plusses, July 16, 2006
This review is from: The Hardgainer's Body Building Handbook: Workouts, Nutrition, and Results (Paperback)
Pros:
-Exercises are well described and illustrated with caveats to avoid and variations.
-A well organized plan for exercising.
Cons:
-Lots of editing mistakes
-Using almost the same exercises over and over seems boring and counter productive
-The book recommends you to limit your exercies to one hour yet the workout routines at a minimum contains 14 exercises of 2 sets each even for the beginner. With one minute rest between each exercise and one minute for performing the exercise and moving/changing plates/waiting for the rack to empty/etc at the very minimum that's already an hour (especially that exercises are superset so you will be doing a lot of moving around). Add warmup set to that and you've got a lot more than you anticipated.
-Selection of exercises do not mention which exercises targets which muscles (i.e. only chest/back/shoulders). I would prefer mentioning what parts of the delts or which part of the chest.
-Follows from the previous point also the author says "You can replace with another exercise .." but doesn't tell you which exercise can be replaced with which. We know that not all chest exercise are created equal. Not enough information on that.
-No mention of warmup. For example in the breakin routine which is supposedly for beginners, the book specifies 2 sets of 10 for most exercises. Now I can't imagine going straight ahead to the gym doing 2 sets of each exercise with a heavy weight that only allows 10 reps. Definitely that's the shortest way to injury and soreness. Also as you do the first set of 10 without prior warmup , the second set will be easier and you can increase the weight. So is that the goal? just doing 10 reps of whatever you can? not enough on that.
-No mention of stretches prior or after workout. And given that warmup is not mentioned either, it seems it was just neglected rather than being intentionally designed out of the program.
-The book website forums are almost ignored, no questions answered any recently, and sending email to the author doesn't seem to make any replies back.
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