Beyond Brawn: The Insider's Encyclopedia on How to Build Muscle & Might

I have always been drawn to the HIT type of training as it became obvious to me early on in my training years that the magazine routines of the pros were more for show than to be put into actual practice by regular steroid-free people. A lot of people on the Internet are now advocating more abbreviated training with the basic compound movements, which is great, but Stuart McRobert is the ultimate and original guide for regular people seeking ways to achieve extraordinary results from weight training. I originally read Brawn when I was much younger in the 1990's and recently read Beyond Brawn. I was not disappointed. I haven't had it that long and it's already full of highlighted sections that I frequently revisit. Once you read this book you will be spending less time in the gym and getting much better results. Not only that, you will understand how to put together a workout routine that works for you, rather than simply pulling a cookie cutter workout from a magazine and hoping it works out. If you decide to get this book you may want to go ahead and order his other book. "Build Muscle, Lose Fat, Look Great", as it is referenced throughout Beyond Brawn when discussing exercise technique. The bottom line is, skip the Schwarzenegger workout book and buy this one if you actually want results. As a note, Stuart has recently updated his website, [...], and it's worth checking out.

This is an excellent book. It is *the* no-nonsense guide to everything involved with lifting, and, to an extent, bodybuilding. It is not going to satisfy those who thirst for supplement knowledge and regimens, but there are other options out there for that. This book is frank, detailed, and well-written. It's suspiciously like Wittgenstein's "Tractatus" in its format, though...

Beyond Brawn cuts through the fairy tales and myths spouted by people on 'drugs' and supplement/bodybuilding mags/websites who have no business giving advice to the vast majority of beginners/intermediates that are trying to grow muscle (and in effect be stronger). He tries appeal to everyone, even though he constantly talks about hardgainers, like myself. McRobert speaks about how to gain muscle, frequency, volume, over training, nutrition, and many more things. He's a fan of short and simple routines, such as doing a routine only twice a week and training each muscle only once a week. Although, he'll also talk about more frequent training. He answers some questions asked by hardgainers, such as myself, and attempts to engrain valuable information in your brain permanently. He does this by repeating things throughout the book many times. For example, he repeatedly talks about getting stronger on the compound lifts, since those bring about the majority of growth. "If you lift Mickey Mouse poundages, all you're going to get is a Mickey Mouse body". This is 2.27. The format is kind of like the Bible, especially Proverbs, in that each section will be almost random, at times, but will be a little tidbit of knowledge. Some sections are a paragraph, others are simply a short sentence. This book could've been shortened to "eat enough, train hard but don't overtrain, sleep enough, and get stronger on all your lifts". The cons are that he states that exercise form is important, yet repeatedly tells the reader to buy his other book to learn about that. It isn't a book that has everything you need to know in one place, which was a disappointment. This book leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but is still a decent book.

If you want to get in shape, lose a few pounds, and/or even try to lift weights, you need to read this book first! The author, Stuart McRobert, not only gives you a plan but explains the "Why" behind his method. There are no shortcuts, but detailed instruction on everything you should do. And his instruction is all drug-free. This book is helpful to everyone: beginner, experienced, professional, both for Man or Woman. After I read this book twice, I ordered all of Mr. McRobert's books and it's the best money I have spent in a long time!!! These books have stood the test of time and are considered by many as the best in the field. An added benefit is that Mr. McRobert is a first class writer!!!

I would say this is one of two books you'll ever need to read on weight training. The other book is one of Stuart's books with actual training techniques. I feel this book is for people who have already researched typical fitness routines and have some sort of foundation in place; even if that foundation is misinformation on overtraining. This book essentially destroys the modern myths on weight lifting proving less is more. I have made more progress in seven weeks following this books advice than I did in the past year following common routines (lift weights 3-5 times per week). Two days per week focusing on the Big 5 is all you'll ever need. Truly a must read.

Fantastic book. Definitely repetitive as others have mentioned, but the information is all critical. I’d been doing more popular/conventional programs for years without making much progress and wish I’d come across this book quite a while ago. Excellent advice and lots of freedom to build a highly custom program.

This book provides plenty of good advice in a point by point format rather than narrative. Yes, there is a lot of repetition both within and between chapters, but repetition is a nice passive way to help important points sink in even without thinking much about it. I would have given this book 4 stars, except for one big thing that really peeved me. I have read many books on exercise and bodybuilding and still flip through some. This book mentions often that many exercises are not taught in safe and proper forms by trainers and in other books, but instead of spending another 50 pages or so going over what the author sees as safe proper form for at least the major exercises he espouses, e.g. deadlifts and squats and presses and their beneficial variations, he repeatedly refers the reader to two of his other books. That might be acceptable in a book that doesn't claim to be "the insider's encyclopedia on how to build muscle and might," but that is exactly what this book claims on the front cover. Had I known that the exercise forms were not described in this book, I would instead have spent a bit more money to purchase Build Muscle Lose Fat Look Great: Everything You Need to Know to Transform Your Body , which is a larger book and one of the other 2 books he repeatedly refers to for his descriptions of exercise forms. Though I do not have that book, I suspect the other advice in it is similar to the advice given in this book. I actually feel cheated by a book I was really looking forward to reading. They should either include the forms or not claim to be "encyclopedic." Until he includes the exercise forms, I would not buy this particular book.

This book is incredibly useful in it's content with regard to the information it provides. I have been lifting for over 30 years, and have made a lot of mistakes. I have passed this book on to my sons so that they might learn from it and what NOT to do regarding training and lifting, getting stronger, and frequency. What I have not liked, and frankly, has made the book excruciating to finish, for me at least, is how many times the author goes over the same thing. I am not really sure if it might be an editing thing perhaps. There are paragraphs, for example that will appear in one spot, and then later, much later, again, as if the information was simply cut and pasted again. Someone had written a review that it likely could have been condensed to 1/3 of it's current length. I mirror that thought entirely. It indeed could be reduced dramatically in it's length and provide the exact same help and content. If you are someone like me, who at 51 is sore, and struggling with your training regiment, this will likely help you very much...that is if you can stick with it.

Das klingt wie Polemik, ist aber nicht weit von dem entfernt, was in dem Buch auf den wissbegierigen Neuling wartet. Es arbeitet sich Schritt für Schritt durch nahezu alle Bereiche des Resistenztrainings und das in verdaubaren Häppchen. Wie Proklamationen ist jeder Wissensfetzen in einen eigenen Absatz verpackt, der für sich alleine stehen könnte, sodass der Autor selbst dazu rät, dieses Buch auch als Referenzwerk immer und immer wieder zu verwenden. Inhaltlich arbeitet sich das Werk durch die Übungen, Intervalle, Ernährung, Equipment und viele andere Bereiche um besonders dem Neuling (aber selbstverständlich nicht nur dem) den Einstieg in die Welt des Krafttrainings leichter zu machen. Der Ton is dabei stets zugänglich, erfordert aber gute Englischkenntnisse. Natürlich ist auch Stuart McRobert nicht allwissend und so sind seine Trainingsintervalle oft als konservativ eingestuft worden. Dem kann ich durchaus beipflichten, aber als Einstieg sind seine Vorschläge durchaus passend, wer sich dann tiefer in die Thematik arbeitet, wird seinen Horizont ohnehin über dieses Buch hinaus erweitern.

McRobert's book is billed by the author as the authoritative text when it comes to all things weight training. In this respect it delivers. The topics McRobert covers are vast: he transitions from differing rep intensity techniques, nutrition, cycling weight programs, through to recovery methods and cardiovascular programs to supplement the goal of brawn. Centrally McRobert's book outlines the methods that one will need to understand and manipulate in their own training in order to succeed. He stresses individuality throughout and does not give many examples of his programs. This is a virtue. With this book you can gain mastery of programming weight training routines that will transform any trainee. McRobert's book is excellent and can take you right from the beginner level to an advanced one. The book broadly splits into three sections. First he deals with the conventional methods of training. If you have been into a gym the image of a narcissistic pump artist will ring true and it is with this style of training that McRobert takes issue. Not on anything but a productivity level however. These traditional high frequency high volume sessions are practically and physically demanding and most galling, inefficient. He tells you what you will need in terms of both equipment and application and does not sugar coat the message. He aims to instil a positive attitude towards training. The second part of the book is vastly impressive. I had been turned on to McRobert's methods out of interest many years ago. His emphasis on compound lifting is unexceptional. As I see it such an emphasis is the bare minimum in a worthwhile text. Anything else should set alarm bells ringing. Where McRobert's book really comes into its own is in his systematic outlining of the fundamentals of weight training. You could create thousands of different variations using the guidelines he sets down. Disregard specific examples- an explicit encouragement of the author- and absorb the lessons regarding what I call the variables of weight training. Each of these variables is explained thoroughly and has its virtues and limitations exposed. You have in the second section a most thorough example of how to manipulate various styles of training to achieve your end specific to your own situation. He then moves to recovery and rest and gives you an excellent schematic. As ever though he stresses that recovery is individual and can be manipulated according to the trainee. In the latest chapter to be added on he outlines another way of manipulating one's regime so as to emphasise mass more than strength. In my view this is not necessary as you can infer its contents purely from section two. There are however those out there who like everything done for them so I guess McRobert is just catering to his critics who bemoan his lack of examples. This second section is phenomenal and if properly studied alongside a technique handbook (I recommend starting strength by Mark Ripptoe) could easily represent all the knowledge one need accrue on the path to success. The final section provides a tale of how the author knocked out a deadlifting session of 20 reps of 400lbs. It is an interesting, and illuminating tale. The important thing about this section for me is the stress McRobert puts on personalisation, using himself as the guinea pig. Later in this section he also deals with nutrition and outlines the fundamentals of what you will need to do in order to grow muscle or lose weight. My complaints are twofold and exceedingly minor when set against the vast volume of what you can learn in this book. First McRobert devotes an entire chapter to trigger point therapy which to me seems irrelevant. Clearly the author holds the system in high regard and who am I to disagree, but I do not feel like it warranted a mention in this book. My second complaint regards the nutritional component of this book. Here the advice is sound enough and will get you a long way. You can easily get a stand out physique and a healthy body from the advice contained here but McRobert clearly underrates the concept of nutrition when it comes to determining what aesthetical outcome the trainee will be left with. Admittedly I am a bit of a nutritional geek and read textbooks about the topic in my spare time, but the point remains that nutrition is very important when it comes to how you look. That being said I still rate this book as the most important and thoroughgoing textbook of weight training. His approach to the field is systematic and individualistic. He doesn't give you a specific program and encourages you to think about it and in doing so means you invest more of yourself in your success. Throughout the book is an emphasis on establishing what works for the individual rather than trying to shoehorn as many people as possible into his regime. I imagine this would earn you critics who don't like to think for themselves. However if you are really interested in weight training and have a desire to devise your own programs this is a fundamental resource. I would imagine many people will get to where they want to be on the back of the contents of this book. There is none of the typical macho BS that you can expect from so many of the fitness authors and thank you Stuart. I find such BS nauseating. What you have here is an outline of the different variables of weight training explored thoroughly in a manner which allows you to determine the best system for you. I have been training for nine years and come November will have invested a decade into this passion of mine. I have read many books in this field and countless articles. I have lifted tonnes and sweat buckets and this book has taught me a lot. In short I think it is the best training book I have ever read.

I think this book is the Hardgainer's Bible. It, along with McRobert's BUILD MUSCLE, LOSE FAT, LOOK GREAT, are two of the best books for hardgainers I have ever read. For me in the past, higher-intensity and lower-volume training definitely led to greater gains than high volume at a lower intensity. I wish I'd read this book earlier and then kept applying abbreviated training thereafter.

PIECE OF ADVICE: don't practice weight-training seriously without reading this or a similar book, if you don't do it, you're going to lose a lot of time, health and illusion. What this book says is nothing really new, it's just what you must minimally know if you want to weight-train (not necessarily bodybuild). If you want to get muscle without risk of injury with an impressively coherent and sound method, training no more than 3 hours a week (more than that CAN BE VERY BADD FOR MOST PEOPLE) read this book, it may change your life substantially. This book is intended for hard-gainers (people that have difficulty gaining muscle). Think of this: A bodybuilder (or any sportsman) will make the fastest progress in the first year or two. This made me think: "why not improve my thin body for a couple years and then quit and maintain?". This is what I'll try if my doctor gives me clearance, I'm doing some medical tests.

I initially purchased this book in hard copy format years and years ago. Unfortunately as a result of moving, I lost it. I purchased the updated edition last week and it has single handedly reignited my passion for training (and I've been weightlifting for over 22 years now). This book (and Stuart) just confirms for me what I have known for a long long time: natural athletes can rarely get the kind of results they are after by following the routines of men (and women) who take performance enhancers. If you want a realistic and truthful account of what it takes to build a respectable physique (and strength), then this book is a must have. Well done, Stu