Max Contraction Training : The Scientifically Proven Program for Building Muscle Mass in Minimum Time [Paperback]

John Little (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2003

The breakthrough new fitness program for readers who want big gains in little time

"I had one little miniworkout. I couldn't believe how short the workout was, and how good I felt afterward. . . . This technique is going to change your life." --Tony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within

Bodybuilding pioneer John Little smashes through conventional training approaches with his revolutionary workout program supported by science and based on 15 years of empirical research. The Max Contraction Training program maximizes muscle fiber stimulation in the shortest amount of time-- leading to faster workouts and more impressive gains. Little reveals:

• Groundbreaking techniques that MAXimize muscle fiber stimulation four times more efficient than conventional training
• Ideal exercise structuring in a workout routine
• Optimal time frames to train muscles for maximum growth
• False information put out by supplement companies

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"I had one little mini workout. I couldn't believe how short the workout was and how good I felt afterward . . . This technique is going to change your life."

--Tony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within

Bodybuilding pioneer John Little revolutionized the sport with his seminal books Power Factor Training and Static Contraction Training, both of which offered scientifically based systems for maximizing muscle gain in a mere fraction of the time required by traditional weightlifting techniques. Now, dozens of scientific trials later, he again revolutionizes bodybuilding technology with Max Contraction Training.

Representing a quantum leap forward in fitness training, Max Contraction Training is the culmination of John Little's more than two decades of research and experimentation. It is the most efficient way ever devised for maximizing muscle fiber stimulation in the shortest period of time. Imagine a 10-second workout (yes, you read that right!) performed once a week that can stimulate up to 30 pounds of muscle growth! The Max Contraction system reveals why you do not need to spend hours a day and multiple days per week in the gym to have a muscular body.

With Max Contraction Training, beginners and advanced bodybuilders alike can get faster workouts and more impressive gains than they ever thought possible. In this book, you'll find:

• Breakthrough techniques that MAXimize muscle fiber stimulation, four times more efficient than conventional techniques
• Optimal time frames for training muscles for maximum growth--many taking as little as 10 seconds to complete
• Ideal exercise structuring for a total workout routine customized to your needs and lifestyle
• Valuable nutritional guidelines for promoting rapid muscle growth
• The truth behind all the hype put out by supplement companies and how and why many supplements do more harm than good

In addition, Little covers the stunning news that science has revealed as being the quickest way to stimulate pounds of muscle growth, the ideal structuring of exercises in a workout routine, the failure of conventional exercise methods, the optimal time frame to train your muscles for maximum growth--and much, much more.

John Little is the author of more than 30 books on bodybuilding, martial arts, history, and philosophy and the coauthor of Power Factor Training and Static Contraction Training. He is the creator of the Max Contraction Training method of strength training (www.maxcontraction.com) and has worked alongside the biggest names in bodybuilding from Mike Mentzer and Arnold Schwarzenegger to Lou Ferrigno and Steve Reeves. His articles on health and fitness have been published in such magazines as Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Men's Fitness, Ironman, Inside Kung Fu, and Blackbelt

About the Author

John Little has worked in the bodybuilding/ fitness industry for more than 20 years alongside some of its biggest names, including Joe Weider, Lou Ferrigno, Mike Mentzer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071423958
• ISBN-13: 978-0071423953
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #246,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Little is uniquely suited to the task of relating the philosophy of Bruce Lee and his approach to life. Little has a degree in philosophy from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is the author of two books on health and fitness (having spent over fifteen years as a writer for several fitness magazines), and is himself a student of Lee's art of jeet kune do.

Selected by the Bruce Lee estate, Little is the only person who has ever been authorized to review the entirety of Lee's personal notes, sketches, and reading annotations and to edit books on the subject of Lee's martial art and its far-reaching philosophical underpinnings. Little's keen awareness of the subtleties of both Eastern and Western philosophy coupled with a respect for the preservation of the essence of Lee's words and meaning give this book an integrity that is all too rare.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and essential information with some big problems, January 26, 2004

By 

mr_ska (London, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Max Contraction Training : The Scientifically Proven Program for Building Muscle Mass in Minimum Time (Paperback)

Max Contraction Training is John Little's follow up to the last book he wrote with Peter Sisco, 'Static Contraction Training'. Max Contraction Training contains some really good information and acts as a logical and worthy extension of the principles of high intensity training. However, the book is far from perfect and there are a number of problematic areas which Little does not satisfactorily address.

The early chapters of the book cover the underlying principles of strength training, and make it clear that the book is aimed at drug free people who want to follow an efficient and effective method of strength training founded on real scientific principles and research rather than the typical 'gym lore' and nonsense that gets published in the muscle magazines.

Little points out that he had been working on developing the 'Max Contraction' system before he teamed up with Peter Sisco to produce the 'Power Factor' and 'Static Contraction' systems and that he considers 'Max Contraction' to be the ultimate conclusion of the high intensity principles that underlie all the systems he has been involved with, which does kind of make you wonder why he didn't just publish this at the beginning and not bother with the other two.
He also goes in for a fair amount of repetition in getting the point about the position of full contraction being the only one in which all of a muscle's fibres can be forced to contract, and after a while this becomes a big of a drag. This is combined with a few mixed messages about safety which can become a bit confusing after a while. However, once you have figured out exactly what he is getting at you will find that the points he is raising are valid and contribute a great deal to your overall understanding of the science behind strength training.

The later chapters are concerned with the practicalities of training acoording to the scientific principles he has laid out. He gives a sound and well rounded basic routine to follow which is based around 'isolation' exercises (e.g. Leg Extensions and Leg Curls) which allow for the individual muscle or muscle group to enter a position of full ('Max') contraction and so activate all the muscle's fibres and utilise the full strength of the muscle. He then goes on to show you 'Bodypart Specialization' routines (e.g. Arms, Shoulders, Back, Legs) which clearly do not follow the principles he has laid out in the first part of the book as they entail doing more sets per bodypart rather than increasing the intensity of exercise.

Safety is also an issue, people who train on their own will be pretty much limited to using the weights that they can move into the position of full/'max' contraction on their own from full (or near full) extension for many of the exercises which, logically, reduces the effectiveness. What will really stick in the craw of many readers though, is that in selecting particular exercises he is clearly trying to get you to buy his 'Max Straps' which will only be available from his website, and will not be cheap either!

So, the book is deeply flawed, but also has some essential information that will do you a lot of good. I recommend that you first buy Little and Sisco's 'Static Contraction Training' and then use this to round out the picture. Where 'Static Contraction Training' focuses on compound exercises, this aims at isolation exercises. The two books and systems are complementary rather than competitive, and with some thought and common sense you can easily combine the best of the two books into a routine for yourself that makes the most of the equipment you have available to you.

64 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Conceptually Great but the Devil's Flaws are Lurking, October 4, 2006

By 

Earl A. Brown (Laguna Niguel, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Max Contraction Training : The Scientifically Proven Program for Building Muscle Mass in Minimum Time (Paperback)

My partner and I worked the routine religously for over one year. I have great documentation of every rep - how was the form, how many seconds was the hold and a message for the next workout to either increase poundage, time of hold or to hold steady for better form.
And yes, just as they claim, my strength on the static hold began to increase. As I say, it's well documented.
And the 1,000 pound mark finally arrived on the leg press, and 350 pounds on the trapezoid shoulder roll with the barbell...all the other routines had virtually doubled in the weight resistance area...
You'd think I was really building muscle wouldn't you? Well I wasn't.
And here's the flaw: The day I leg pressed the 1000 pounds I heard and felt a tear in my knee. Miniscus(sic)surgery in both knees occurred last week. I'm a mess, but mostly because I had to have rotator cuff surgery on July 6th.
You see what the authors fail to mention to anyone is that despite the muscles ability to statically hold heavier and heavier weights, there ain't nothin' going on to strengthen the tendons and cartilage and other "body parts secondary to the muscle." And they can give way as they did in my case.
In my opinion, we all have a limit to the endurance of those secondary parts that can be overwhelmed by the high weights lifted via static contraction.
I've sacrificed 3 of my 4 major joints to surgery caused by static contraction.
And lastly, when we shifted to regular lifting after dazzling the gym with our "big stacking the weights on show," we were weaklings. My static bench press had been 310# but my bench press was only 165#.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars sounds good; until you try it, December 31, 2004

By 

charlie bucket (PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Max Contraction Training : The Scientifically Proven Program for Building Muscle Mass in Minimum Time (Paperback)

Let me just say that you should not waste your time and money on this book. I went to the store to get a new training book and i found this and it looked really interesting. It said that you could build maximum muscle mass in minimum time. I bought it and tried it out. When i first started reading the book it was hard for me to accept that you can actually build muscle without doing full reps and multiple sets for each muscle. I'm sure it would be hard for most people to change their beliefs after years of hearing from people that you need to do 3 sets of 10 reps or whatever.
So once i started using this "max contraction" program i had more time to do other stuff since the workouts were quick. A big flaw is that the book does not offer many alternatives for the excercises. For example the gym i go to does not have a pec dec which is the main machine that is used for building your chest. AND you have to order "Max Straps" in order to do a bunch of the excercises. I could see charging $5 bucks for them, but they actually cost something like $80! Plus the program neglects certain areas of the body like the neck and wrists. And it was always hard to tell if i was in the max contraction postion. And since I was not able to convince anyone else that this was legitimate, I did not have a partner to help me lift the weight into position. I could go on and on about how this book is flawed and contradicts itself, but I won't.
Here's the real proof that it does not work: After using the program for six months, my body weight decreased by 10 pounds, not including fat. I took measurements of my muscles before starting this program and they actually got smaller. I had increases in strength using this, but only for a little while until I eventually hit a plateu. I decided for one week that I would go back to doing a regular workout with reps and sets just to see how much stronger I had gotten. But I was actually weaker in almost every excercise using the full range of motion. what a big waste of time.