The Book of Muscle Survey

[Kaiser]

Have you completed any of the 24 week routines in Schuler/King's The Book of Muscle? If so, post your impressions and results here. I've seen enough guys here talk about doing it; I'm interested in quntifying some results. I'm in the first half of the intermediate program myself.

And, no, I'm not Lou's press agent.

[I. Kay]

I did the Intermediate routine last year. I remember my squat went up quite a bit. Let me try and dig up those old logs and see if I can give you some numbers.

[lefty9]

Kaiser,

I completed the Int. Program this past July. All of my major lifts increased significantly, at least for a 36 year old, now 37.

I will look at my logs tonight for actual numbers. One that comes to mind is my deadlift, it went from 330 to 400.

I bulked during Stage 2 and part of 3 with some very good results. By the end of Stage 4, my strength was way up and my body fat had decreased. I did not gain lots of size, but I didn't expect to with the heavy weights and low reps.

Working the ABs every workout really helped them to "show" themselves. Although, some of the credit goes to Mike Mejia's "Home Grown Muscle" program, which I completed prior to starting BOM.

I thoroughly enjoyed the program and the results. Ian and Lou put together a great book along with some tough as nails workouts.

[Mahler]

I finished the Intermediate Program earlier this year. I will finish the Advance Program in another three weeks. I just did a personal best in my deadlift of 325. It's been a real blast.

In Fitness & Friendship,
Mahler

[Matthew]

Has everyone done a bulk throughout the six months of the intermediate program, or has anyone done say a bulk for the first two stages and a cut for the second two, or a bulk for the first three and a cut for the last one, or something like that?

[Three]

I just completed the beginner program two weeks ago and have one week completed in the intermediate program. My gains were quite significant percentage wise, but I was starting from scratch. I have played with weights before but I have never really lifted in a complete program like this. I messed with them a little about 24 years ago. I am 47 (about to turn 48), and decided to try and get fit before it’s too late.

I put on 12.5 lbs of muscle and my body fat went from 15% to 12%. I went from 157 lbs to 166 lbs and lost 3.5 lbs of fat. Now don’t laugh too much as you read this as I am not at all in your league here but my bench went from 100 to 140, squat and deadlift went up the same weight 100 to 140. This gain was almost all in phase three and four and I haven’t tried for any one rep max lifts they were all as done in the program sets. The leg work outs were killers but the strength appears to come pretty quickly. Of course walking without a limp and sitting down to crap without muscle soreness doesn’t happen for about 3 days after I work my legs. Seeing that I have never done any serious workouts before, I guess that should be expected.

This is for me a GREAT program. I look foreword to every workout, in fact as I complete a workout I am already excited and can’t wait for the next workout. I feel and look better than I ever have in my life and I can’t wait to see what the intermediate program brings.

Sorry for the long post…


Three

[AF-Temp]

I completed the intermediate program back in november. I remember wondering about the effectiveness of some of the exercises listed during some of the weeks, but I stuck them out anyways. I changed my diet up about the same time as I started on the program so I ended up dropping about 20 lbs. The amount of weight I was lifting went up though! I remember being surprised when I had to go back to doing bicep curls towards the end and using significantly more weight than I had done in the first few weeks.

[cward76]

I didn't quit finish the intermediate program. Injuries prevented me from finishing the final 3 week phase. On upper body I did make it to the last exercise/set in the routine.

Any how, I was pretty happy with my results. I weighted in at around 140, my height is 5'6" (the program did nothing to increase my height) my weight at the end was 150lbs

My begining stats were
Incline bench press 175 1X6
Squats 155 3X10 Ass to grass
Dead lifts 135 3X10
Pull ups 1x11

Note all of the numbers were before my injuries happend
Bench press 205 1X4
Squats 215 1X4
Dead lifts 205 1x4
Pull ups body weight plus 50lbs 1x4

I liked the program for the most part, although I would recommend that dumbbells be used on military press instead of a barbell.

My lower back was a weak link when doing deads so that kind of held me back. I was a complete novice at deads when I started this program. I feel like I really should have did the beginner program because of my lack of experience with deads. I had lifted for 5 years when I started so I thought I would be ok, but I was unable to go heavy on deads until the end of the program because of form issues.

My eating was not always the best either so that impacted my results as well. My biggest issue was I did not always eat enough. Other times I ate the wrong food. I would say eating was bad 25% of the time I did the program if I had to guess.

Overall I think I could have done better with the program in terms of body comp, but that was my fault. I was pretty happy with strength gains. I honestly did not believe I would ever be able to bench press over 200lbs, but I did it with this program. I also learned what a great lift the dead lift was. I noticed another benefit from doing dead lifts, mainly functional strength.

[CtA318]

I completed the Beginner program and gained around 20 pounds. I went from 110 - 128. My max bench before I started was around 90-95lbs (Dear god) now it at least 155. I didnt know my previous squat and deadlift maxes but I know my legs grew a solid inch during stage 4. My strength flew through the roof. I didnt gain any body fat until stage 3 and 4 when my diet wasnt so good. Overall the program kicked my ass and I got solid gains from it. Im going to do intermediate next week or so.