Bigger, Leaner, Stronger

FrnkLft

Anyone using the program by Mike Matthews, any results so far?

bchernock

Yes. So far so good. The nutrition plan is great and he really breaks down what you need and why you need it. Being in the medical field everything for me is evidence based and he is constantly citing studies to back up what he is saying. So at the very least it looks like he did his homework. Another thing is a lot of this is common sense. If you stay away from things that are known to not be good for you and understand how your body uses each nutrient you should be fine. This book does just that and makes it easy to understand. The work outs that he has come up with are good and rely mostly on using heavier weights and fewer reps. It has worked for me. I have been cutting to begin with and have lost 2lb a week for the last 2 weeks. Overall, I feel better and when I follow the diet plan and close as possible I do notice a boost in energy. I definitely had an energy boost after working out at 6am before a 12hr shift and I was fasting for that workout. so far so good...I say get the book.

ArtidMD

Definitely the best! I have been using other platforms for nearly two years and now I made more progress with BLS in only 5 months. Simple effective and concise. Thanks Mike!

Wilbur_NOLA

Yes!

I highly recommend purchasing "Bigger Leaner Stronger" and follwing the 52 week program.

I have been following the diet since the middle of January and had very good results with it, both cutting and now bulking. I'm also following the 52 workout program and have made some really nice size/strength gains once I started follwing the bulk diet.

I shuffled between several different diet and exercise plans over the years and finally decided that I wanted to find a one stop shop for diet and exercise and found just by googling for fitness books and found "Bigger Leaner Stronger". With so many good reviews I decided to invest a few dollars and bought the book. The book is so easy to read and he makes things very easy to understand and backs everything up with science, facts, and personal experience.

FrnkLft

bump

grayo15

Ive been following the plan for about a month and have noticed strength gains but not much size gains yet.
exelent book and enjoying the work outs but i must say i dont enjoy the day afer leg day

FrnkLft

This was a great book to get me moving in the right direction, and a lot of the basics in the book are solid. That said, size gains are going to be few and far between on his program. Even strength gains are going to be slow since there isn't any objective structure for increasing the weight, just intuition which is subjective.

It's not that there is anything wrong with his approach, it's a perfectly good program, however it is not opitmal.

I have since moved on to Wendler's 5/3/1. I HIGHLY recommend you take a look at this program. To reap the benefits of training, it's best to hit things twice a week, not just once like Mike advocates. Also, you need to work in different rep ranges for different results.

Generally 3-5 rep range is ideal for strength, and 8-12 is ideal for hypertrophy (size). 5/3/1 is a strength program, that gives you the freedom to program other lifts for size. It's awesome, and considerably more legit than BLS.

Also, the 6 rep range for isolation work is ridiculous... not very safe for joints.

luksskywalker

Just last week I've read 5/3/1 by Wendler and tried it out in the gym. Since I'm a beginner for many years (I go to the gym 2 months and then stop for half a year because I'm to impatient and can't wait for more than 2 months to see some improvement) i find Wendler's system not so satisfying. All of my exercises (squat,deadlift,military,bench press) are under 100kg (220lbs) so after I do that last all-out-set I feel like i haven't done any. I don't feel any muscle sorenes, not even a tiny bit. The day after I feel like i haven't even been to the gym. I also don't think that 1 serious set (all out set) could be enough for some considerable muscle growth in this physical state I'm in. BUT, If I were to train at least a year and than hit the plateu, I would definitely start 5/3/1. I think when you're stuck on the same weights for some period, that push you need to go beyond it is something 5/3/1 would give you.

I've also read Bigger Leaner Stronger and find Mike's training regime more satisfying since there are more sets of one exercise.

This is just my humble opinion, based on what i want from working out, I'm not an expert but I think that you first have to try everything yourself before you can comment and even worse, criticize on someone elses thoughts. We're all different and need different stimulation to reach some goals. Body building or any other activity that you do to get your body in shape is actualy an experiment. You try something for some period of time and then you see where you're at. If you like it, stick with it, if you don't, change it. All it takes is a lot of time and dedication, but if you start going to the gym at 18, and let's say you get married with children at 30, there's plenty of time (12 years) to experiment. Summer is not the peak of the year.