Bigger Leaner Stronger Building Ultimate Reviews Summary

Effectiveness of Program

Pros:

• "After four months I can confidently say it works, I've lost 16 pounds, my pants size has dropped by two and I am building muscle."
• "It has changed the way I work-out. More warm up sets. Less reps. Longer rest period between sets. More volume. Progressive increase in weights."
• "On every exercise I am considerably stronger than I was 6 weeks ago."
• "By using the training suggestions in the book, I got some newbie gains of a beginner - gains where you can actually gain muscle and lose fat at the same time."
• "Using the programs in this book I’ve put on 20LBs of muscle in 3 months and am steadily losing fat."
• "As I followed the information and workouts in the book I went from 250lbs to 200lbs, so I can promise you it works!"
• "Just since I started reading this book I lost 30 pounds of unwanted body fat."

Cons:

• "There is an assumption of access to an adequate gym. But a lot of people don't have that, with many gyms these days not even having proper barbells never mind a squat rack."
• "If you don't have 5 days a week - 45 mins a day to workout, you may be a little discouraged to try the program and it's understandable."
• "Overestimating macronutrient needs based on anecdotal evidence that is not supported by the studies he cites in his own argument."
• "The protein intake recommendations actually made me gain weight (not the good kind). Maybe outdated?"
• "He recommends too much volume and advanced exercises to beginners without a pathway to build up to them."
• "What this book does not hit on is long term maintenance."
• "BUT the diet is not applicable to diabetics."

Quality of Writing

Pros:

• "Michael has written a very good book which is easy to read and understand - a brilliant job."
• "The first Bigger Leaner Stronger is a great, informative, detailed and easy to understand."
• "Mike's book is easy to read and follow."
• "This book cuts straight to the core of all the common themes and misconceptions, and you don't get his opinion. You get the facts."
• "The book is an easy read and provides more than enough information and 'how to's' to set up a solid exercise and nutritional foundation."
• "Bigger Leaner Stronger breaks everything down making it easy to understand and retain."
• "Matthews tells you everything you need to know about training, diet and proper form in a clear easy to read manner without getting too verbose."

Cons:

• "The cadence is so weird to me - if he could read how he naturally talks it would be much better."
• "The book could have been complete with 50 pages instead of 500."
• "But practically every single thing in this book has been discredited."
• "The pace of the narration was choppy."
• "Most of the text is unnecessary. You get the idea that Michael Matthews is the kind of person who likes the sound of his own voice."
• "This 400 page book is only stories telling you how great you are going to be if you follow this book's advice. But there is very little practical advice."
• "A very large tome, with so much easily contradicted information."

Author's Support and Resources

Pros:

• "Even includes a link to a zip containing a bunch of PDF resources that are also super helpful."
• "Another great feature that comes with buying the book is the possibility to ask the author any questions you may have regarding the subject via email."
• "I also contacted the author for some follow-up questions, and to make sure my progress was on the right path, and he replied back quickly with great feedback and additional information to help me."
• "I even reached out to him via email and to my surprise he responded within a day with excellent feedback, suggestions, and an 'open door' mentality to helping his readers."
• "One of the best things he offers is direct feedback to questions via email."
• "I had a question, so I sent Mike an email and he replied within 24 hours."
• "The author actually reads and responds to feedback - that level of dedication deserves my applause and my dosh."

Cons:

• "PS: at the end of the book there is a promise that we get a report file for the year one challenge but the link is broken and i havent received any feedback from the author about it."
• "Pages jump from page 130 to page 180, so those 50 pages are totally missing."
• "No significant cons mentioned regarding additional resources and support."
• "The last major gripe I have that's worth mentioning is the amount of time he spends deriding the supplement industry before conveniently mentioning right at the end that he has his own supplement company that's the only 'trustworthy' one."
• "He does have a supplement company and he has a very long sales pitch for his products in there."
• "But it feels like it tries to be everything for everyone."
• "This really should be 3 books, according to the stage one is in their fitness journey."

Practical Application and Results

Pros:

• "I highly recommend this book to any and everyone who enjoys fitness or is just beginning their journey."
• "Get this book if you are serious about changing your body."
• "Looks absolutely brilliant - a real help when you don't know where or how to start."
• "I was able to put some of the methods into use within a few days of reading the book which also kept me motivated to keep reading and learning more."
• "This is by far one of the best books that actually help me in my real life."
• "Mike Matthews uses science based approaches that are proven to work!"
• "This book is the single best and most detailed reference on strength training and getting lean that I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of them."

Cons:

• "I don't like the claim at the end saying 'most people can gain or lose up to 25 pounds in their first three months'."
• "Terrible, absolutely terrible diet advice."
• "The protein intake recommendations actually made me gain weight (not the good kind). Maybe outdated?"
• "Love this book and I think there’s a lot of good information. My only criticism is that it will tell you to automatically go for dead lifts and squats when there may be safe alternatives."
• "Key information, as others have mentioned, is buried in chapters bloated with anti-fitness industry rants."
• "Ultimately, then, the book is basically misleading."
• "For your own good, please don't follow the terrible diet advice."