Volume 4: Training for the Busy Bodybuilder
Heads up readers: Strength and Physique: Training for the Busy Bodybuilder is now available! The training outlined in this book is VERY different from anything that I have ever written. In fact, the training is almost the exact opposite of what I normally tell readers to do, which is to train briefly, intensely and frequently.
In my previous books, such as Neo-Classical Bodybuilding, I talked about the most you can do to achieve mass and muscularity in an ideal situation. If you are able to go to the gym 3-4 times, then previous volumes of Strength and Physique will provide you with countless training programs to build maximum muscle through maximum effort.
In Strength and Physique, Volume 4, however, I’m going to show you the least you can do to achieve mass and muscularity while still living a life outside the gym. It's meant for the modern day Renaissance Man who wants a phenomenal physique, but also wants to live life and pursue other interests. This book is about maximum muscle through minimum effort.
This idea came about simply because my life has gotten busier and busier over the years. Most of us have to juggle work, family and hobbies, and yet most magazines and books will provide you training programs where you have to commit to the gym often and at regular frequencies. Many of these programs are either based on a periodization strategy and/or high frequency split training.
The problem with periodization programs is that you must commit to regular workouts. Each workout builds on the other; so missing a workout will compromise your strength and mass development. If you use a 3-4 way split routine that bodybuilders typically use, then missing a workout means missing needed work on a muscle lagging in size.
Strength and Physique, Volume 4 will show you how to train specifically and more effectively for a busy and unpredictable schedule. Make no mistake: for size and strength, a high frequency training program is superior to a low frequency training program. But if you cannot commit to 3-4 workouts evenly spaced throughout the week, then you have to train differently to make the best of a bad situation. This book will show you how to train on a low frequency program, so that way you can enjoy life outside the gym and be more than just a bodybuilder.
Comments
Long time since I have emailed, I hope you are well!
Great news about the new book. I have been looking forward to it.
Do you have any plans to make your books available on other Amazon stores, such as the UK one? This will reduce the shipping costs of getting them across the pond. Not sure how easy/hard that is for you to do but I think they would sell very well over here.
Otherwise, are you going to offer all volumes as a downloadable PDF at some point. I have the first in this format, but I do prefer a physical book.
Michael
Unfortunately I don't have any plans on making the book available on the UK site nor as an EBook, although I may be looking to put it on Kindle.
Nothing is set in stone, so we'll see what the future brings.
-J
On that note, make a Strength and Physique iPhone/iPod Touch app!
I'll add that I think your book will benefit older lifters like myself. I find I'm better off with a bit less time spent working out. Otherwise, cumulative stresses and injuries take too much of a toll. In fact right now I'm in the gym just 2 to 3 times per week; 4-5 days was just too much.
Volume 4, however, is very different from HIT. If you trained 1-2 sets on each exercise once a week, most people would be UNDERtraining, even the older lifters.
If you train once a week, then the volume has to be high, but it also has to be just the right amount for the individual. Everyone has a different optimal volume, and this book shows you how to determine that optimal amount for yourself.
Like I said, this book and its training philosophy is quite different from anything else I've put out. Whereas my other programs are quite structured, this one is quite fluid. This may be a little unnerving for some readers who need every detail spelled out, but the training philosophy of Volume 4 is meant to be adapt to busy unpredictable schedules.