A No Nonsense Approach to Change Your Physique

Book Review: Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body (The Build Healthy Muscle Series)

Author: Michael Matthews
201 pages, Oculus Publishers Inc., $11.99

If you are a man looking to change your physique, whether you want to bulk up or thin out, Michael Matthew’s book Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body (The Build Healthy Muscle Series) may be just the thing you need to help you achieve your goals. Matthews is not trying to sell you any “phony magazines, workout products, or supplements”, which he often reminds you; he uses over a decade’s worth of training experience and research from scientific studies to help ensure that his readers will ultimately make gains and change for the better. First and foremost, Matthews wants you to be aware that this is a lifestyle change. This may make you skeptical, but don’t be, he provides all the tools you will need to make this change.

Before he gives you the answers, Matthews wants to educate you. Three very short chapters are dedicated to providing definitions for terms regarding health, nutrition, and fitness you may have heard but might not know what they mean. He mentions carbohydrates, hormones, and Body Mass Index just to name a few. The purpose is so you have a better understanding of the science he uses to support his argument.

Matthews then debunks many fitness fallacies that you might have been told were necessary to achieve your ideal body; from the value of supplements to the number of hours you need to grind out in the gym. He provides scientific evidence for building muscle and losing fat as well as meal plans for gaining, cutting, or maintaining weight. And he does all of this before getting into the actual fitness plan. This may cause some frustration, but its purpose is simple, to change your physique you must know the proper foods to eat in order to maintain your new lifestyle. For Matthews, it is all or nothing and he encourages you to feel the same way.

Once he finally discusses fitness, he begins with his training formula which tells you the number of reps, sets, rest time between sets, muscle groups to train per day, number of training days per week, and how long to train each day. To support his formula, Matthews explains his own reasoning behind this formula based on his own experience then discusses a number of studies done within the United States and around the world that support each theory.

Bigger Leaner Stronger continues by demonstrating the proper form of the three major exercises: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. Matthews does this not only by explaining the proper form but providing pictures for those who are more visual. He then provides examples of weekly and daily fitness plans.

What makes this book really helpful is that Matthews provides useful resources to keep you on track like websites for calorie counting, videos that demonstrate appropriate form, and more. Ultimately, Matthews wants you to be motivated enough to make this change, but also for you to be honest with yourself about what is actually motivating you, whether that is becoming more appealing to the opposite sex or becoming a healthier version of yourself.

Now, this lifestyle change will not be easy at first, but this is just as much about the “outer game” as the “inner game”. You will have to be disciplined in both your nutrition and your fitness because you can easily revert back to your old lifestyle if you have cheat days instead of cheat meals or too many days off between workouts. However, if you do follow his steps, you will be able to see the change you desire in only 12 weeks. Are you ready for that change? The first step is to purchase Bigger Leaner Stronger, from there you are already on your way to a better you!