Customer Reviews

Men's Health Huge in a Hurry: Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner in Record Time with the New Science of Strength Training (Men's Health (Rodale))

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Chad Waterbury is a respected name in the fitness coaching business, largely as a result of his regular contributions to sites like T-Nation and [...]. In fact, Huge in a Hurry is largely a crystallization of the training philosophy that he has elucidated in his articles for those sites. And what Waterbury presents is a logical, practical, empirical guide to strength training, though one that I feel is ultimately incomplete.

The author spends the first several chapters laying the intellectual foundation of his training philosophy. Much of this is information that experienced lifters will already know, but it bears repeating nonetheless, if only to aid the logical flow of the book. The second half of the book consists of various training programs/protocols aimed at different ends. Essentially, the book follows the pattern of many others written on strength training.

The author has been training people for quite a while, and he presents many of his ideas in the context of his own experiences. This is always a positive thing for any kind of practical guide. And it's apparent that Waterbury knows of which he speaks. He quotes peer-reviewed studies to back up most of his larger points, and he holds an advanced degree in the field. I do not take any issue with the author's knowledge; rather I do question some of his conclusions.

Essentially, the author is a proponent of the three-times-per-week, total-body weight training protocol. This is actually a very old-school program that has made a strong comeback in recent years. And it's easy to understand why. The body-part training specialization ad infinitum espoused in the Weider magazines has really veered too far off the track of sanity. Most people don't need twice-per-day workout protocols that drug-enhanced bodybuilders use to prep for the Mr. Olympia. What most people need is basic, sound training ideas that will help them reach their somewhat less lofty fitness goals.

Three-times/total body is one way for people to reach those goals, but it isn't necessarily the route for everyone. The author firmly believes that lifters should train every muscle group in each workout. He bases this idea on his belief that the old notion of the 48-72 hour muscular recovery is incorrect, and on the idea that more volume will lead directly to greater results. The problem with this idea is that recovery time and volume tolerance are two of the most person-specific variables in weight training. No two people respond to a given protocol in the same way. Some need more volume while others do well hitting each muscle group once a week. Some people make tremendous gains on total body workouts, while others run headlong into overtraining and the wall of diminishing returns.

The author claims that he's verified that total-body training is the superior protocol through his own experience, but my experience shows that this is a matter of individual response. Certainly many people will do very well on his program, but just as many will struggle, wondering all the while what they're doing wrong. For these people, some sort of body-part training split may be in order, and I believe that the author should be more careful to note this. Many trainers like the author and Alwyn Cosgrove have made great efforts of vilify body part splits. This seems to me a silly endeavor. Beginning lifters should try all types of programs to see what works best for them. The best program is not what trainer X or Mr. Olympia or Arnold says is the best, it's the one that works for that person.

That said, the information here is solid, and the book is certainly attractive and well written. I will say that if you're interested in getting into total-body-training splits, this is definitely the place to start. I wouldn't, however, go so far as to say that Huge in a Hurry is the definitive word on weight training. Too much is omitted for this book to be considered as such.

If you want a change of pace from your traditional workouts, you have come to the right place. If you are tired of the same routine you have been doing for years on end, Huge In A Hurry will provide something you probably haven't done before.

I bought this book because I am a fan of Waterbury's writing and methods. I think he is truly on to something about lifting with heavy weights and doing so in a heavy fashion. If you aren't really set on this technique, try this: Go to your gym and begin another one of your boring workouts. But do something different this time. Increase the weight by 10% or so, and lower your reps to around 4-6. Also, when your lifting the weight, try to move it as fast as possible. Don't think about the lowering phase, just do so in control.

That, in a nutshell, is what this book is about. It has 6 total phases (Get ready, Get big, get bigger, get strong, get stronger, and Get Lean). Many of them last around 16 weeks. It has details on what he recommends to eat after you lift (raisins and whey protein) and how much. I am currently in the Get Ready phase, and i have never felt my heart race so much. The workouts don't take long to do, but they are intense. I think on every workout so far (at least in the Get Ready phase), the workouts only take around 25 minutes or so.

I really don't have any gripes about the book. It is very well put together with photos detailing every exercise. There are also many variations of each workout. And, what I still find mind boggling is that this guy doesn't believe in the bench press! You will still do incline and decline bench, but he doesn't believe the flat bench is good for you.

If you don't believe this book is really as good as it sounds, head on over to T-nation.com to check him out. He writes many articles and puts together some fitness regimens. I can't say enough about how excited I am. You won't be dissapointed!

I was somewhat skeptical that one could enter and exit a gym, do four exercises and walk out in about twenty five minutes, three times a week, and have any hope at all of gaining any strength or size.

Was I ever wrong! I just completed the 16 week Get Big program and went from 155 pounds to 175 pounds! And that is twenty pounds of MUSCLE, evidenced by the fact that my waist line did not increase one iota!

My fellow employees and friends are telling me that I am starting to look like a Marine!
But the most amazing fact ? While this book is targeted to people between the ages of about 15 and 40,
I achieved these gains at the age of 60 !

I will start another 16 week program in a few more days and cannot wait to see what I can achieve.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to maximize his workout time and achieve real results.
In fact, I think the title should have been; "How to maximize your gym workouts," because that is exactly what one is doing.

Mike G.
Tamarac, Fl

I am almost 46 years old and hands down this is the best muscle building routine that I have ever done. I am what you call a hard gainer. I have tried other muscle building workouts over the years and have never had much success with any of them. I would do these routines blindly for months and months and since I wasn't getting any results, I would eventually just get bored and quit. Its crazy but the gym is full of these people. When you come back after a lay off you see the same people and they never look any different. It's like repeating the same mistake over and over again foolishly believing that today would be the day that their routine is miraculously going to work.

This book is loaded with tons of useful information and I still can't believe it only costs around 16 bucks. The routines are easy to follow and you will never get bored as you seem to always be doing something different.

I think it's very important to keep track of each workout and each set, weight used and reps. How else are you going to track your progress and know if you are getting stronger if you don't keep track? You don't need to wait months to see the results. Strength normally supersedes growth so if you were only able to do 6 reps last week on a given exercise and you did 8 today, you are stronger.

I have the routines copied on to a clipboard that I carry around the gym with me so that when I do my sets I can record the results. Sometimes when I have left it on a machine near me to do another set, I have seen other guys leaning over to try and get a peek at what it is that I am doing. The best part for me is that when I finish my last rep on my last set I pick it up one last time, record the results and then head straight for the door. You should see the looks I get. Its like "What does he know that I don't?" I have better things to do then spend 3 hours a day in a gym. What about you?

I just finished the first 16 weeks and I am very pleased with the results. Keep in mind I am almost 46 and have never been able to get good results with any of the other routines that I have tried. This may not seem like miracle growth for you but it is for me. Thanks again Chad.

I am 5' 11" and weigh 188 lbs.

The Good
Left Arm: 15 1/4" (I gained 3/4")
Right Arm: 15 3/8" (I gained 1 2/8")
Chest and Back: 41 3/4" (I gained 2 1/4 inches)
Thighs: 22 1/2" (I gained 1" on both legs)
Left Calf: 15 1/4" (I gained 1/4")
Right Calf: 15 1/2 (I gained 1/4")

The Bad
Waist: 37 1/2" (I gained 12 lbs and 2 inches on my waist because I didn't fully follow the diet. I basically just ate a lot more calories than I should have.) In order to shed the excess pounds I am going to do the Get Lean program listed in the book.

What are you waiting for? Buy this book today.

I totally agree with some of the negative reviews. I've been fuming over this book for weeks now, trying to think of a succinct way to explain this ridiculous writing style. This book makes me want to pull my hair out. The first 80 pages are pretty much useless, but interspersed every so often are tiny hints of what he's really trying to say. It reads the way Eddie Murphy parodies Bill Cosby's storytelling style. "So you go to they gym and you do blah blah blah. Then, your realize that blah blah blah. Then a gym rat tells you blah blah blah. Then you start to gain weight and get fat. Then another trainer comes to you and says blah blah blah. This makes sense to you. Then you ask blah blah blah, so he responds blah blah blah. Then you lift 100 pounds and are embarrassed. Then your ex-girlfriend sees you and doesn't notice that you're working out. Then you start to think blah blah blah. Then a trainer tells you another theory called blah blah blah". Seriously, almost 90 pages of this, and you can barely figure out which thing is the thing he's saying is good and which is the one he's ridiculing. It sounds like a therapy session - this is the singlemost convoluted writing technique I've ever read, and I'm including books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Joseph Conrad.

The subheadings are useless as a way to skim back over things you've already read - they're written "cleverly" like one of those maddening "for Dummies" books. Then, after 90 pages, he has 7 pages of how the workout works - though he doesn't explain very much about the actual technique, certainly not compared to how much detail he goes into when explaining his life story...er...I mean, YOUR life story (see previous paragraph). Then he shows the actual workouts. When I got to them, I saw they referred to "RM". Was this "reps/minute"? I had to skim back for 5 minutes before I found ONE place farther back in the endless "backstory" where he explaned that RM was "reps maximum".

One of his two charts in the "intro" essay of how to set up a workout is actually a chart of what NOT to do. How stupid is that? At the very bottom of this page is the pertinent information, buried under a very pretty table of apparently what NOT to do. Regarding details, what about the actual setup of the workout? Is it "set of pulling + 45 seconds + set of pulling + 45 seconds + set of pulling" or is it "set of pulling + 45 seconds + set of pushing + 45 seconds + set of lower body+ 45 seconds" or is it "set of pushing + set of pulling + set of lower body + 45 seconds"? What about the negative? Do I do that fast? Slowly? What about amounts of cardio? Do I really have to read the whole book through 2x to get the exact approach? I mean, he specifically says that we shouldn't "tinker" (his word) with the exact approach. If it's that precise, then it should have a better cheat sheet, a better chapter-end summary distilling everything into something to refer back to every few days (especially at first). What about lagging parts like calves that aren't getting enough stimulation just keeping me balanced during squats? He's just too in love with the "sound" of his own voice to be able to put together an easy guide. Man, if Schwarzenegger can write a coherent bodybuilding book, I'd think anyone can (or at least anyone should be able to hire a decent ghostwriter). This guy is the Dan Brown of fitness books.

The approach itself, however, seems to really make sense, and I'm very excited about doing it (it's been 2 weeks). I can't tell if it's working, and it's weird to not feel sore and pumped every day for some nice physical feedback. I feel a little like maybe I get fewer endorphins on my days off, but man is it great to have fewer workouts per week. I totally believe in this novel idea of pulling/pushing faster, explosively, stresses the big fibers. I also like doing the same parts every other day from diff. angles. I really do feel super motivated to head to the gym for my workouts. If the workouts really do work (I'm 39, only 10 pounds heavier than I've been since I was 23, wiry, low body fat, classic small bone ectomorph), I'll be the first to come back here in 16 weeks and give a massively resounding review of the technique, and then maybe write to the author with some rewriting/relayout advice to make this more usable and easily accessible.

Chad Waterbury has written the only book you need on improving your body or athletic performance. If you are getting your workouts from magazines, or from the big guys in the gym, you have it all wrong. Things have changed so much in this industry, thanks to good studies, good science and good trainers/authors, like Waterbury and very few others.
The premise of this book is lift heavy and lift fast. I had been getting nowhere in by bodybuilding and strength pursuits, changing routines from Body for Life, to HIT, to anything I read in the magazines. Each time, I would think I had found the answer. I would get excited, workout like a madman, and see some minor results. But, usually after about three weeks, I would be so discouraged, I would be out looking for the next "fool-proof" method.
About 5 years ago, I came across Chad Waterbury, Pavel Tsatsouline, and Charles Staley. All of these guys encourage you to Lift Heavy! Instead of 3 sets of 10, do 10 sets of 3. It made sense! Instead of doing 3 sets of 10 with only 185, now you can do the same 30 reps with 215. I used some of Chad's routines to pack on about 20 pounds. Now, with Huge in a Hurry, he has added to his science of sports performance. Train whole body, use heavy weights, and the biggest improvement - lift fast! He explains this very well in the book, not only how to do it, but why you are doing it. I have been on this program now for several weeks, and I can tell you first hand, it really is an eye opener. Everything I have ever read says, lower the weight slowly, feel the burn, etc...What I didn't know, is that Olympic Trainers have been having their athletes train fast for years! Chad caught on to this, and the resutls you will get, will be better than anything you have ever tried!
I could go on and on....but the bottom line is, whether you play a sport, want to get strong, or just look better, not only is this book more than worth the price, it is the only book you need!

I too am a fan of Chad's. I read everything he puts out on T-Nation and I have tried nearly all of his programs with much success. I was not disappointed at all with this book. There is new information here (some of it has indeed appeared in various forms in his articles for T-Nation however) and what little is not new, comes in a better format...in a system that anyone can follow. I find this book refreshing in its approach to training, the use of the exercices, the variation in repetition ranges, and the heart of the system: perform each rep as fast as possible. That's oversimplifying the book of course.

It is all here. He tells you what to eat and when, how to manage fatigue, why this system makes sense, detailed programs to follow for various goals (Get Big, Get Even Bigger, Get Strong, Get Even Stronger, Get Lean), and complete descriptions on exercise execution (complete with illustrations). The book is very well put together, well organized, and enjoyable to read. I have read a lot of classic strength training books and I would certainly include this one as a MUST read.
I have been following the first 16-week program, Get Big, for a month now. My progress is noticeable. The difference is not in the exercises themselves (they are "more bang for your buck" basic exercises) but in the execution of the routines. It makes a difference. Whether you are a beginner, or like me, an experienced lifter, not only will you NOT be disappointed, you will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

I wasted 10 years in the gym before finally picking up a copy of Huge in a Hurry. It was a great buy and has changed everything I thought I knew in the gym.

Traditional bodypart split training programs never gave me any results I wanted. But I kept plugging away, thinking it'd finally "click" with the next workout.

Fast forward to now: 16lbs heavier (while also leaner) after following Huge in a Hurry. It worked and it is still working.

If you're an athlete, this will help your performance; if you're a desk jockey, this will get you in and out of the gym faster than normal while feeling great (your back will feel better, too, because you'll shore up your muscle imbalances).

Buy it, try it, and see for yourself. The proof is in the pudding.

This book will indeed get you big, but you will get injured. take it from a personal trainer. I was curious about doing this workout lifting fast until you can't go no more in each set. this will led to bad form. My shoulder was dislocated for lifting too much on this program. It is a program that will work but with a big price.

If you have any gym experience, I would say more than a year, then stay away from this book. Yes there are some decent principles in it that I will continue to follow. However, for the most part it is garbage. The cover says gain 16 pounds in 16 weeks! I have been hitting the gym fairly consistently for the past 4 years. There was a time I would work out Monday- Saturday spending an hour or two each day. Before starting this plan, I was working 4 on 1 off. I was kind of excited that I'd be able to workout only 3 times a week, for just under an hour each time. Skeptical but excited. His plans are a joke. 4 exercises a day. 12 a week. I did a week of Get Ready and I am now in week 2 of Get Big. My chest, arms, and shoulders have all decreased in size since beginning. So to gain 16 pounds I need to lose all my muscle? Sorry Chad, that isn't science, it's stupidity. I read everything before the plans. This guy had me believing him. I was even trying to convince my friends the science behind it. With so much faith in this author, I can't back out of the plan. I have to prove that it works (mostly prove that I was right). To do that though, I have to add another day (Saturday) and insert extra chest, shoulder, biceps, and triceps exercises throughout the week.

Some things I will take away from his book. No machines. Simply use either free weights or cables. This is something I knew I should be doing (especially for legs) but was stubborn. He has you work your legs with one exercise 3 days a week, using a squat or deadlift variation. I don't really like doing to much with my legs but know that they need to be worked so spreading it out like that will be helpful. I also like the way he does his reps. For example, on medium days, you lift as much weight as you possibly can as long as you get 10-12 reps on your first set. After that, you get to a total of 50 reps with however many sets it takes as long as you don't go over 12 reps (then you are not using enough weight).

Bottom line is: if you haven't stepped foot in the gym before, this book may be for you. If you consider yourself somewhat knowledgeable in weight-lifting, you may want to skim through it.