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))
by Chad Waterbury
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chad WaterburyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-12-09
ISBN: 1605299340
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Rodale Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781605299341
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of 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))
Book Review: Better then most other conventional workout plans, but potentially dangerous
Summary: 4 Stars
I gave this book four stars because it's more effective than most other conventional strength-training plans, in that it recommends that you opt for using heavier weights and doing fewer reps, which generally is more likely to generate higher levels of intensity than using lighter weights and doing more reps. Also, it's well organized, and it covers a broad range of information about conventional strength-training exercises. And as a bonus, it contains some stretching exercises, which most other books don't cover. So the book is worth buying if you want a good traditional workout plan.
But it's still a conventional workout plan, and a such,it has the same limitations as other conventional workout plans in terms of generating maximum intensity, and thus maximum muscle growth. So you will not really get "huge in a hurry" with this workout plan. But you might get "hurt in a hurry" with the advice in this book. Here's why:
The author states at the start of the book that you should "lift heavy", and "lift fast". Those are his two main rules for getting huge in a hurry. Lifting heavy, of course, is essential to build maximum muscle in minimum in time; but lifting fast is bad advice, since it will increase your risk for injury. That doesn't mean you will get injured; but theres' a greater chance for injury to occur. As Joe Weider states in one of his books, most serious injuries he's seen over his many years in bodybuilding were due to "sudden jerky motions" that resulted in torn muscles, damaged joints, ligaments and tendons. He claims that he's seen many promising, upcoming bodybuilders end their careers this way. And obviously the faster you lift, the more "motion" you engage in per given amount of time, and the greater your risk for injury. And that's especially true when you use heavy weights, which compounds the problem.
Additionally, "lifting fast" doesn't increase the intensity of the exercise for any given amount of weight used; it actually does the opposite. Lifting fast lowers the intensity of any weight-lifting exercise that you do, because the faster you lift, the more you rely on momentum to carry you through the exercise, rather than the strength of your muscles. And that's especially true during the eccentric phase of motion, where all of the momentum is generated entirely by gravity, not the strength of your muscles. So if you were to go as fast as possible, during the eccentric phase, you would have absolutely no muscular contraction, and thus zero intensity. It's interesting to note that recent studies have shown that super-slow reps are more effective for muscle growth than are reps done faster. So for any given amount of weight used, the more slowly you do the exercise, the the higher the intensity of the exercise, and thus the greater the muscle growth stimulation. And the ultimate way to achieve this is to slow the weight down completely and do a "static contraction", so that you have absolutely no motion; all you have is contraction of the muscles against a net external force. Static contractions (if they're done right) are the only way to achieve maximum intensity and maximum muscle growth stimulation, so they are the only way you will get "huge in a hurry".They'are also the safest weight-lifting exercises, since they involve no motion at all. I explain all of this in my book, which has not been published.
The only published book I know of that enables you to achieve maximum intensity and get huge in a hurry, is John Little's book "Max Contraction Training". I would also recommend his earlier book (co-authored with Peter Sisco),"Static Contraction Training", as an introduction to his later book. But I wouldn't recommend the exercises in that latter book (SCT), since they too have their limitations; only the concepts.
I also disagree with the author when he states that isolation exercises are not necessary to develop a great physique. He claims that all you need to fully develop your physique are compound exercises. That simply isn't true, and I'm surprised that a person with the author's credentional would overlook this error.
First of all, you have to do isolation exercises to achieve maximum intensity and maximum muscle growth; and anyone who believes otherwise, is probably using the wrong definition for intensity, or the wrong definition for a compound exercise, or both. And since this book doesn't even define intensity, that explains why the author erroneously believes that isolation exercises are unnecessary. Additionally, there are certain muscle groups that absolutely require isolation exercises for full development, simply because there are no compound exercises that address those muscle groups effectively. Suppose you want to fully develop your calves for example: what compound exercise will do that? Obviously there are none. You have to use isolation exercises to fully develop your calves. And there are other muscle groups that require that you do isolation exercises as well, such as the biceps, the triceps,the glutes, the latissimus dorsi, the abductors, and your pectorals. The bench press, for example will not fully develop your pecs, because you cannot achieve maximum intensity in the pecs when doing any form of the bench press; it's impossible, due to the way the exercise is executed. In fact, whenever you combine two or more motions into one exercise (as is the case with compound exercises), you have to make compromises in terms of intensity. And that's why compound exerciss are overrated. You cannot achieve maximum intensity when doing most compound exercises; only isolation exercises can do that. But most people cannot understand that fact, because they don't have the right definition for intensity to begin with.
Finally, I emphasize that this book "Huge in A Hurry" can be of great value for those who want one of the best conventional workout plans there is. But it is not the best way to build maximum muscle in minimum time, and it is potentially dangerous, due to all of the motion involved, especially with heavy weights. For example, if you do "explosive motions" (even if they're not actaully fast motions) at the start of the dumbbell flye, you could damage the connective tissue in your shoulder joint when in that vulnerable position. Fortunately, building muscle doesn't require repeated body motions anyway; all you need to build muscle is contraction, assuming it's generated the right way, so as to generate maximum intensity.
Finally, as stated, I found no definition for "intensity" (as it relates to strength-training) in this book. And obviously, without the right definition for intensity, you won't know which strategies work best to maximize the intensity of any weight-lifting exercise that you do.And if you don't achieve maximum intensity, you won't build maximum muscle in minimum time. In fact, without that definition, you won't build maximum muscle at all, even if you were to stick with these exercises for 100, 1,000 or even 1,000,000 years.
But then maybe building truly "maximum" muscle, or "maximum muscle in minimum time" isn't your goal anyway;and you can build a lot of muscle with this plan, regardless of the limitations of connventional workout plans.
More 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)) reviews:
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Summary of 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))
Men's Health Huge in a Hurry will add inches to your muscles and increase your strength, with noticeable results quickly, no matter how long you've been lifting. Author Chad Waterbury offers the most current neuromuscular science to debunk the fitness myths and conventional wisdom that may be wreaking havoc on your workouts and inhibiting your gains. Forget lifting moderate weights slowly for lots and lots of sets and reps. The best way to get huge in a hurry is to use heavy weights and lift them quickly for fewer repetitions. Waterbury's groundbreaking programs will enable you to:
-Add Mass and size. Gain as much as 16 pounds of muscle in 16 weeks--and add 1 full inch of upper arm circumference in half that time!
-Get stronger...fast! Even seasoned lifters can realize a 5 percent increase in strength in the first few weeks. And in 12 weeks, you can boost your overall strength by up to 38 percent.
-Build power and stamina. Increase your one-rep max in your core lifts by as much as 30 percent.
-Shed fat fast. Burn off up to 10 pounds of body fat, losing up to 2 pounds of fat per week.
With Men's Health Huge in a Hurry, you'll not only get bigger faster, you'll do it with less time wasted in the gym and with less post workout pain and a much lower injury risk.
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