Reddit reviews Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body
We found 19 Reddit comments about Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
A couple people have asked about my routine. I started off doing Stronglifts 5x5 for a few months. After I felt comfortable with the basic compound lifts lifts, I started Michael Matthews's Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, which I fully endorse and would recommend to anyone. The book is excellent, and everyone should read it, but you can take a look at the routines here. I had to take about 3 months off last fall for surgery after developing a hernia, so I lost some progress there.
Yeah, a great place to start is the book Bigger, Leaner, Stronger by Michael Matthews. As a physician myself, I always try to stick to evidence based approaches. And while the field of exercise physiology is comparatively young, Matthews does an excellent survey of the available literature and synthesizes it into a cogent story with practical advice. I don't necessarily agree with every last thing in the book, but it's the best I've ever seen.
If you don't want to buy a book, his blog is http://muscleforlife.com/ and it's a good place to start as well. But the book is totally worth it.
I can't recommend the book Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body enough. I have a couple of friends that compete in body building/physique competitions and started with advice from them. They all stand by the information in this book. Unfortunately, if you're a beginner, the internet is full of bro science and nonsense about expensive supplements that do nothing and ridiculous workouts. It's truly the only topic I've ever found difficult to research online. There's simply too much money to be made misleading people that the commercial interests have fully buried the simple facts.
I read through this book in about three days and went from 185 skinny-fat to 165 11% body-fat and actually looking/feeling great, in about four months. Didn't spend a dime on supplements beyond whey protein and a small bottle of creatine that lasts for 4-5 months per bottle. I have no association with the author and that isn't some type of referral link. It just worked really well for me and answered every question I had about diet and exercise with cited research. I hate woo-woo online advice about 'toxins', 'muscle confusion', or any of the abundant obvious pseudo-science blog posts and supplement forums. Check out the book.
If you're a female: there's a female version, too.
Your questions make it obvious that a brief comment is not going to clue you in on what you're missing and put you on the path to success. You really need to do some reading on the basics of bodybuilding: diet, bulking, cutting, proper training program. I highly recommend downloading Bigger, Leaner, Stronger by Mike Matthews.
It's the #1 natural bodybuilding book on the market and would provide you everything from A-Z on what you need to start this journey. Even has a supplemental cookbook for bulking and cutting.
Pick up the book Bigger Leaner Stronger (its like $13 on Amazon ) by Mike Matthews. He’s really into the science of building strength and size. Also checkout his 1 year challenge. It’s a tough workout, but that’s what you want 😉
I recently read this book and it was a good place to start for info. He discusses routines, supplements, diet and a few other things. The writing style is a little bro-y, but overall it’s mostly good info.
Before I started the routine described in this book, I did 3 months of lifting with the help of the StrongLifts 5x5 app. It’s great for beginners.
I also utilize Scott Herman’s YouTube channel for help with form and to even find out what an exercise is.
Hope this is helpful. Good luck.
Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body https://www.amazon.com/dp/1938895304/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ktK9AbM55JX16
Are you on T? If you aren’t it probably won’t have as much as a dramatic affect, but weight lifting will help build a more masculine shape. Bigger Leaner Stronger is a great beginners guide to weight lifting and building muscle. Planet Fitness is a good gym, they’re cheap and open 24/7. Good luck!
Losing weight, in a way, is easier, because even if you do nothing your body is going to burn 1500-2000 calories all on its own. (Depending on your lean mass quantity / weight.) So if you control the input and do jack shit... you'll still lose weight.
Gaining muscle, on the other hand, means you have to
So... there's the three things you have to do. I highly recommend this book for a scientifically backed approach to this:
https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Leaner-Stronger-Building-Ultimate/dp/1938895304
As far as "small lifestyle change" to get stronger.... body weight exercises like push ups and pull ups... but even there, once you can do 10 or so of those, you build endurance more than size.
Try this: one hour at the gym lifting weights three times a week, and don't waste any time doing cardio while there. Check your video game stats, I'm sure you can find three hours a week. After a year that will be over 150 hours of working out and I can assure you you'll be stronger! 💪
Get this book: https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Leaner-Stronger-Building-Ultimate/dp/1938895304
It will teach you everything you need to know about nutrition and also give you a full year's worth of exercises. Eating healthy is #1 but if you work out alongside proper nutrition, you'll burn many more calories and will lose the weight much faster.
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You can run and run and run and the end result will be.... you're a better runner who can run longer faster. Weirdly though, it's a horrible way to try to get stronger, where were talking about the muscles generating more force (and generally getting larger to do that).
Lots of good muscle building science here:
https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Leaner-Stronger-Building-Ultimate/dp/1938895304
Thank's for the kind words man. The short answer is I've been following this book. A second book I recommend is Starting Strength which discusses in depth proper form for the key weightlifting workouts (bench press, standing military press, barbell squat, and deadlifts).
Bigger Leaner Stronger taught me everything from managing calories, what to eat, how to manage macros, good vs bad protein powder, supplements, vitamins, work out routines, etc. It is basically my gym bible. But, if you aren't interested in taking the time to read these books (which I HIGHLY recommend), then I'll give you a brief rundown of my workout routine.
Workouts "phases" are broken up into 9 weeks. A typical 9-week phase looks like this:
Weeks 1-3: Regular week lifting at 5 days per week (mon-fri)
Week 4: Strength Week. Only lift mon, wed, and fri, but focus on key workouts (Barbell squat, deadlift, bench press, military press)
Week 5-7: Same as week 1-3
Week 8: Strength week
Week 9: Deload or off week. I either don't work out this week or I do three days at 50% of my working weight (so essentially a light week)
A typical 5 day week looks likes this:
Monday: Chest and Abs. Incline bench press. Incline dumbell bench press. Flat barbell bench press. Face Pull. Three abdominal circuits where one circuit consists of Cable crunch (10 to 12 reps), captains chair leg raise to fail, bicycle crunch to fail
Tuesday: Back and Calves. Deadlift. Bent over barbell Rows. Pull ups. Standing calf raises. Seated calf raises.
Wednesday: Shoulder and Abs. Standing Military Press. Side lateral Raise. Bent over rear delt raise. 3 ab circuits.
Thursday: Legs. Barbell squat. Romanian deadlift. Leg press. Standing calf raise. Seated calf raise.
Friday: Upper body & Abs. Incline bench press. Barbell curl. Close-grip bench press. Alternating dumbell curl. Chest dips. 3 ab circuits.
A typical activity includes 4 warm up sets and three working sets like this:
12 x 50% of my working weight (rest 1 min);
10 x 50% of my working weight (rest 1 min);
4 x 70% of my working weight (rest 1 min);
1 x 90% of my working weight (rest 3 min)
After this warm up is complete, I do 3 working sets. 4-6 reps of my working weight (if i hit 6 reps, I add 10 lbs to a barbell or 5 lbs to a dumbell) Rest 3-4 min. Repeat this 2 more times. A huge key to building strength is progressive overload. If you hit those 6 reps, add more weight. If you hit 6 reps and add more weight but can only do 3 reps with the new weight, drop it back to where you were before. But next week, start with the higher weight.
As far as diet is concerned. Yes. This is the biggest thing. I eat clean. I eat very clean. I don't eat processed foods. I only drink milk and water. I eat vegetables and chicken. Good fats, good protein, and good carbs. I weigh everything I eat to make sure i'm hitting my calories and macros. I track everything in my fitness pal.
A typical meal day for me is protein bar before workout. Protein shake and banana after work out. 2 hardboiled eggs and 175 grams of plain nonfat greek yogurt for breakfast. 4 oz tuna and some triscuit crackers + a carrot for snack. Chicken breast and veges for lunch. Non-sorbate prunes and another banana for a late day snack. Protein shake for dinner. Maybe some more protein and veges.
TLDR
Read bigger leaner stronger. If you don't want to do that then the key items are eat clean and within your calorie limits (you can lose weight by eating in a caloric deficit without even needing to workout). The most important weightlifting exercises are barbell squats, deadlifts, standing military press, and bench press.
As my post title states, I only do cardio 0 to 1 times per week which is hardly anything. It's not necessary for fat loss, but it will help accelerate fat loss and increase cardiovascular health which is important and which is also why I'm going to start adding more cardio.
Best of luck man. That book changed my life. I highly recommend it.
Aimlessly lifting weights in an ad-hoc sort of pseudo-isolation sort of way and running a couple of times a week. Had no idea what I was doing.
Then I found a post that linked to this and started following it to a T: Linear Progression PPL for Beginners
Then got the “Bigger Leaner Stronger” book on Amazon and am now following that to the letter : BLS link on Amazon
This book helped me get a good idea of what I was doing with my diet. He doesn't advocate any fad diets or tell you to buy a ton of supplements. He gives you a plan to calculate your macros for protein, carbs, and fat. From there you get your final calories. Just stay within those each day and meet your macros and you'll do well. He backs up a lot of his claims with actual studies so it's not anecdotal advice.
Have you ever read Bigger Leaner Stronger? I have started reading its women's version because many people online review this book's approach to be orthodox.
I highly recommend you read Bigger Leaner Stronger, and get your T levels tested. Maximize T with proper diet/sleep/exercise/supplements.
 
 
To summarize, you get big from tearing your muscles with short/heavy sets of explosive lifts. Protein + rest will repair the tears and make you bigger. Strength comes naturally, but size requires constant repair. This is why you can be small and strong, typically these guys are concentrating on long exhaustion sets and haven't optimized their macros.
Strength training anatomy for learning how exercises strengthen certain parts, Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for basics on training for aesthetics and strength, and Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle for good diet advice.
one reddit user suggested this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Leaner-Stronger-Building-Ultimate/dp/1938895304/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0/131-2116062-5403156?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=G0XJZBQMMWXSRA98H1BV
This or This is a great book that covers all the basics very well. I would suggest giving it a read.
Also, ask one of the trainers at your gym for form advice if you ever feel like you need help on something specific.
You should read this book, it is really really good when it comes to working out. I read this book will taking a nutritional science class and this book was spot on with what my professor was saying
https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Leaner-Stronger-Building-Ultimate/dp/1938895304/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=QAHVEV20HNYQ&keywords=bigger+faster+stronger&qid=1563381126&s=gateway&sprefix=faster+stronger%2Caps%2C306&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1