fadi
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This is a quick review of McRobert's new book.
Stuart McRobert is well known for his Brawn series. Which are highly recommended for everyone to read. The new series however falls way short.
The Book:
The book is larger size than McRobert's other books. And so is the font. That is great because it is easier to read, and not so great because it has much less content from any of his previous books. Expect to read the book in
a day or two.
The brook is broken into sections:
Chapter 1 Revelations:
There are 16 revelations. Each taking 1 to 2 pages. The revelations are basically marketing to sell you on the value of the book. There were no real revelations. Mainly, people in magazines use steroids, you must follow this routine because it worked for Peary Rader and McRoberts back in the 50s and 80s, and how awesome this new routine is so you should be excited aboutit (which I'll talk about in few).
The big thing that stood out in the Revelations section is that the promise of "up to 50lbs of muscle" on the cover
is based on someone who is 5'10, 130lbs who will eat enough food over the next two to three years to gain 80 to 90lbs, third of it being fat. If you are more advanced, then you will not see the same gains. These are from the book, not my judgement of the book.
Revelations is a section you can completely skip as pure marketing and hyping a book you already purchased.
Chapter 2 Procedures:
There are 31 procedures. Some of them so trivial, not even sure why McRobert bothered including them other than fillers. Others are quick summary or rehash of what he stated in his older Brawn series. When i say
summary, I do mean a quick summary. A page or two of high level mention of various topics.
He does offer reps,sets, and frequency procedure (1-2 pages) but not backed by any explanation as he did in his previous books.
Chapter 3 Recuperation:
12 pages about nutrition and sleep. Nothing specific, eat calories, eat protein fat and carbs, and get good night
sleep. Another section you can skip if you read any other bodybuilding book or read about it online. The main point is eat more to gain weight, and sleep and rest to recuperate and gain size. No specifics.
Chapter 4 The Foundation Phase:
The title got me excited. I was finally getting to the meat of the book! oh wait... it is a short 12 page chapter about the need to stretch and gives you 12 stretching techniques. That was about it.
Chapter 5 The Exercise Technique:
McRoberts took sections from his book "Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique" and included them here. He mainly took the workouts he will recommend later on in his routine. If you own that book,
you can skip this chapter. If you do not own that book, this is a good read, but again it is subset of the other book so I would rather recommend his "Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique" book over this book for technique.
Chapter 6 The Growth Phase:
Now we get to the meat! this is the 14 pages I have been waiting for! As I suspected from the description of the
book when I purchased it, it is based on the 20-rep breathing squats. Google it, you will find enough information on it, or get Super Squats book.
McRoberts recommends two alternatives to the breathing squats: The parallel grip deadlift using the hex bar, which you will not find at any gym. He does recommend trying to convince your gym into buying one or you buy it
yourself and haggle with the gym for free membership in exchange. The second alternative is the hip belt squats. Both options are really not practical, so you will be performing the breathing squats.
The routine is either full body or two way split, up to you. You can do an extended long version of it, medium, or short. The routine is really just a normal full body workout routine that starts with one set of 20 reps squat followed by one 20-30 reps of pullover to "expand your rip cage" followed by a selection of workouts that you can
rotate every week such as bench press, pull ups, pull downs, shoulder press, and some accessories. Pick one for each. Use free weights not machines and routate them. But the staple is the 20 rep squats which must be done.
To summarize:
I was very disappointed in the book. Looks like McRobert is going the commercial route and wants to come up with new books to sell filled with fillers. There were no scientific backed facts, but then again he never gave enough details to need scientific backing. Except for the "expanding of the rip cage."
The book is collection of very short articles you may read in pamplets, online, or his articles in Ironman mag. Some stretching techniques, extracts from his technique book (if you need proper technique then go for that
book not this one), and a 20 rep squat full body routine done twice a week.
The book's claims for greatness assumes the readers are extremely skinny people who will eat a lot to gain 60+ lbs of weight over 2 to 3 years period, third of it will be fat (his words not mine). Otherwise, expect normal
progress.
If the book is intended for absolute beginners, then the routine is terrible for them. His other books would never recommend it for absolute beginners. Yet the entire book written as if it was for beginners.
If the book is intended for experienced lifters, then the book falls way short as they will already know most if not all the content and can skip to the routine section.
Stuart McRobert is well known for his Brawn series. Which are highly recommended for everyone to read. The new series however falls way short.
The Book:
The book is larger size than McRobert's other books. And so is the font. That is great because it is easier to read, and not so great because it has much less content from any of his previous books. Expect to read the book in
a day or two.
The brook is broken into sections:
Chapter 1 Revelations:
There are 16 revelations. Each taking 1 to 2 pages. The revelations are basically marketing to sell you on the value of the book. There were no real revelations. Mainly, people in magazines use steroids, you must follow this routine because it worked for Peary Rader and McRoberts back in the 50s and 80s, and how awesome this new routine is so you should be excited aboutit (which I'll talk about in few).
The big thing that stood out in the Revelations section is that the promise of "up to 50lbs of muscle" on the cover
is based on someone who is 5'10, 130lbs who will eat enough food over the next two to three years to gain 80 to 90lbs, third of it being fat. If you are more advanced, then you will not see the same gains. These are from the book, not my judgement of the book.
Revelations is a section you can completely skip as pure marketing and hyping a book you already purchased.
Chapter 2 Procedures:
There are 31 procedures. Some of them so trivial, not even sure why McRobert bothered including them other than fillers. Others are quick summary or rehash of what he stated in his older Brawn series. When i say
summary, I do mean a quick summary. A page or two of high level mention of various topics.
He does offer reps,sets, and frequency procedure (1-2 pages) but not backed by any explanation as he did in his previous books.
Chapter 3 Recuperation:
12 pages about nutrition and sleep. Nothing specific, eat calories, eat protein fat and carbs, and get good night
sleep. Another section you can skip if you read any other bodybuilding book or read about it online. The main point is eat more to gain weight, and sleep and rest to recuperate and gain size. No specifics.
Chapter 4 The Foundation Phase:
The title got me excited. I was finally getting to the meat of the book! oh wait... it is a short 12 page chapter about the need to stretch and gives you 12 stretching techniques. That was about it.
Chapter 5 The Exercise Technique:
McRoberts took sections from his book "Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique" and included them here. He mainly took the workouts he will recommend later on in his routine. If you own that book,
you can skip this chapter. If you do not own that book, this is a good read, but again it is subset of the other book so I would rather recommend his "Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique" book over this book for technique.
Chapter 6 The Growth Phase:
Now we get to the meat! this is the 14 pages I have been waiting for! As I suspected from the description of the
book when I purchased it, it is based on the 20-rep breathing squats. Google it, you will find enough information on it, or get Super Squats book.
McRoberts recommends two alternatives to the breathing squats: The parallel grip deadlift using the hex bar, which you will not find at any gym. He does recommend trying to convince your gym into buying one or you buy it
yourself and haggle with the gym for free membership in exchange. The second alternative is the hip belt squats. Both options are really not practical, so you will be performing the breathing squats.
The routine is either full body or two way split, up to you. You can do an extended long version of it, medium, or short. The routine is really just a normal full body workout routine that starts with one set of 20 reps squat followed by one 20-30 reps of pullover to "expand your rip cage" followed by a selection of workouts that you can
rotate every week such as bench press, pull ups, pull downs, shoulder press, and some accessories. Pick one for each. Use free weights not machines and routate them. But the staple is the 20 rep squats which must be done.
To summarize:
I was very disappointed in the book. Looks like McRobert is going the commercial route and wants to come up with new books to sell filled with fillers. There were no scientific backed facts, but then again he never gave enough details to need scientific backing. Except for the "expanding of the rip cage."
The book is collection of very short articles you may read in pamplets, online, or his articles in Ironman mag. Some stretching techniques, extracts from his technique book (if you need proper technique then go for that
book not this one), and a 20 rep squat full body routine done twice a week.
The book's claims for greatness assumes the readers are extremely skinny people who will eat a lot to gain 60+ lbs of weight over 2 to 3 years period, third of it will be fat (his words not mine). Otherwise, expect normal
progress.
If the book is intended for absolute beginners, then the routine is terrible for them. His other books would never recommend it for absolute beginners. Yet the entire book written as if it was for beginners.
If the book is intended for experienced lifters, then the book falls way short as they will already know most if not all the content and can skip to the routine section.
