Lou starts off the book by explaining his progress and experiences while doing Chad’s total strength program. Was good to hear the thoughts of a program that wasn’t solely based on a new 1RM but the impact that the new strength level have in carry over into other lifts.
Chad outlines his beginnings and then jumps straight into the good stuff. Chad explains that performance should came first and shows many ways to manipulate different variables to achieve progressive overload or improvements each workout. Some of these variables are the same that everyone talks about however he also introduced a few methods that I hadn’t read much on.
Chad introduces some basic physiology to us in this book and you can tell he knows his stuff as his examples are simple and leave you with a some “aha” moments. Considering this came from a neuroscientist this chapter was shorter then I’m sure he could have written.
We all know chad and other authors take on compound movements over isolation and chad does a good job of explaining why over just saying not to do them.
There were several tables in the book that I found very interesting and are a great resource to have when designing programs. Talks about stress on the nervous system and how to choose exercises based on a heavily taxing exercise and a not so taxing exercise. Some of this information I’ve seen before on t-nation but putting it all together in one chapter was awesome.
Energy systems are a boring topic but chad actually introduces new twists on it by using a different heart rate predictor then the ones everyone currently uses. Gives a few weeks worth or options for each energy system as well as explains each one clearly.
The nutrition chapter was great and I enjoyed that chad included different macronutrient manipulations for different people with different goals instead of the blanket statements that some authors make. I would have liked this chapter to include some samples of best food choices and a sample day using the talked about ratios.
The book also goes through some posture and stretching which was good information but I found myself keen to keep moving to get to the program.
Muscle revolution includes some brief info on CW programs that have been released on t-nation over the years and puts the program into a clear printable table that will make doing these programs all that bit better. All these workouts are available at t-nation and t-nation has more information and explaination then chad was able to put into his book.
The real reason for the book was the strength program and this was worth the cost alone. Chad breaks up the main 3 lifts into phases and shows how to strengthen each phase in order to bring up the whole lift. Again this was simple info and makes sense that the program will result in big improvements. Haven’t tried it yet but I’m sure it’ll be a crowd pleaser.
All in all a great book however you can tell that the book was targeted to a t-nation audience and I would have liked some more explanation on a few points and some meal samples in the nutrition section.
Although shipping was steep the book arrived at my door in Australia 6 days after placing my order. Very impressive and the free metabolic drive bar was a nice touch.
Ask for this book for Christmas is my suggestion.
Feel free to add your reviews to this thread as well.
Muscle Revolution is a good book for a lifter who knows what he's doing. I wouldn't give it to a beginner, as he doesn't explain how to do any of the exersises. NROL is better suited for an absolute beginner.
The book basically details all of CW's principles and training philosophies.
There is an excellent section on how your nervous system works with your muscles, as well as info on different types of muscle fibers.
The nutrition section is decent. Pretty basic stuff though. You won't find anything that's mind-boggling there.
He lists the best order to do his programs in, although if you searched T-nation you could find it there.
One thing I would have liked would have been descriptions of all the exercises. What's the point of having the workouts in print of I still have to go on the internet to find out what the hell a Waterbury Walk is?
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good read. Is it essential? No. Will most people learn a lot from it? Yes.
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Audentes Fortunas Juvat
"Focus on making the 5 lifts stronger and getting enough food. There will be plenty of time to worry about glycemic indexes, PERs, and Bulgarian Split squats later. Much later."-Mark Rippetoe
Muscle Revolution is a good book for a lifter who knows what he's doing. I wouldn't give it to a beginner, as he doesn't explain how to do any of the exersises. NROL is better suited for an absolute beginner.
The book basically details all of CW's principles and training philosophies.
There is an excellent section on how your nervous system works with your muscles, as well as info on different types of muscle fibers.
The nutrition section is decent. Pretty basic stuff though. You won't find anything that's mind-boggling there.
He lists the best order to do his programs in, although if you searched T-nation you could find it there.
One thing I would have liked would have been descriptions of all the exercises. What's the point of having the workouts in print of I still have to go on the internet to find out what the hell a Waterbury Walk is?
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good read. Is it essential? No. Will most people learn a lot from it? Yes.
I agree. for me, i got the same value from just the xls's i had of CW's workout programs, the book basically is a glorified version of those xls's, for me anyways. Otherwise, someone who is brand new to Chad's work but has experience lifting will find it more useful, i doubt i'll use it more or read it more than the spreadsheets i have of all his programs which I got for free. I guess i look at it like i'm paying him for all his past work and free stuff he's given out on t-nation.
I got the book in 3 days to Australia, and also got a free bar.
The fact that exercise descriptions were left out was a good thing for me, having allready read the book of muscle, and NROL, I dont really want to pay for more pictures of exercises that I have allready been doing, or know about anyway. I liked how the book was packed with information, exercise descriptions would be a bit of "fluff" in my opinion.
I do agree NROL would be better for a complete beginner, but this book would also be good, if the person was pointed towards a good website with exercise desciptions, which are not too hard to find.
If you're somebody who has allready read most of Chad's stuff, you'lle allready have read some of the points made, but there is alot of new content, and it is definently worth it.
MR was a great read. I really think this book is for intermediate and advanced lifters. The science alone that Chad put into the book most begginners would not be interested in or would just plain pass up. For the intermediate and advanced lifters its like gold.
I like the fact that everything in the book ties together all of his past articles along with all of the new stuff. Having it together in one place is a good thing.
NROL and Muscle Revolution have been the 2 best reads this year by far. Now I just have to figure out what I want to do for workouts this next year! Its a bitch picking between the two!
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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.
I just wanted to drop a note and say that I appreciate all the feedback. It really is fun for me to read a person's perspective on the book, now that it's available.
It's also interesting and funny to read how people are basically split down the middle on issues like exercise pics/descriptions. That's certainly one issue that Lou and I really went back and forth on. So it's funny to see this same issue arising again.
Thanks again, and I'll be here to answer questions once more people have gotten a chance to read it.
I just wanted to drop a note and say that I appreciate all the feedback. It really is fun for me to read a person's perspective on the book, now that it's available.
It's also interesting and funny to read how people are basically split down the middle on issues like exercise pics/descriptions. That's certainly one issue that Lou and I really went back and forth on. So it's funny to see this same issue arising again.
Thanks again, and I'll be here to answer questions once more people have gotten a chance to read it.
Chad, I think you and Lou made the right choice on not having the exercise pics/descriptions. I have so many workout books with pics that take up 3/4 of the book. It's nice if you don't know the exercise, but once you get the form down, 3/4 of the book becomes useless. Plus, if you ordered the book, you have internet access to free pics and descriptions on t-nation. Combine that with a MR Forum here soon, and there is no need for it to consume the majority of the pages. I am looking forward to reading this over the holiday. Plan to start the workouts on 1/1/2007 when 7/8ths of the world is hung over.
Now, I wonder how pissed my wife would be if I opened one of my xmas gifts early without asking (looking at my tree as I type this, with a Biotest box under it)...
Best part of the whole article...Chad wrote."And just so you know that I’m not completely full of shit, here’s a pic of me performing the Waterbury Walk with 1.5 times bodyweight"
I agree that most of the stuff is on t-nation, but to not need to be online to find it and to have it all in one place makes a big difference for me. Plus, I like the exercises selected for me. When I try to design my own program, I get lazy. I already know what programs I'll be doing until, at least, next summer (depending on if I repeat the sequence or change goals slightly.)
Nutrition was basic, but sometimes you need reminded that it's not supposed to be as hard as it often einds up. I would have loved some meal descriptions because sometimes putting it all into practice is the tricky part. But, then again, sometimes ya just gotta pull up your big girl pants and do it yourself! :-)
Only bad thing is we should have ordered two copies so I don't have to use my emerging muscles to fight my husband over who gets to read it!
Chad, I think you and Lou made the right choice on not having the exercise pics/descriptions. I have so many workout books with pics that take up 3/4 of the book. It's nice if you don't know the exercise, but once you get the form down, 3/4 of the book becomes useless. Plus, if you ordered the book, you have internet access to free pics and descriptions on t-nation. Combine that with a MR Forum here soon, and there is no need for it to consume the majority of the pages. I am looking forward to reading this over the holiday. Plan to start the workouts on 1/1/2007 when 7/8ths of the world is hung over.
Now, I wonder how pissed my wife would be if I opened one of my xmas gifts early without asking (looking at my tree as I type this, with a Biotest box under it)...
Yeah i second that.
Once you have one or two book with pages and pages of exercise descriptions, they become useless, especially since the information is available free on t-nation. Good Call.
Review of muscle revolution
:p 
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