Men’s Health Huge in a Hurry: Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner in Record Time with the New Science of Strength Training (Men’s Health (Rodale))
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars The only program that works for me
The weight lifting program outlined in this book is so different from anything else you’ve ever tried. He uses compound exercises to build muscle using less weight and less time, but the results are nothing short of amazing. I am an ectomorph which is also known as a hardgainer, i.e., someone who has a very difficult time gaining muscle weight. The results gained in 8 weeks are equivalent to the gains made over 4 or 5 months using traditional routines.
Better yet, the soreness I get is in the muscle itself, not in the tendon which is where it used to be.
Not only have people who see me infrequently noticed changes, but people who see me on a weekly basis have noticed them as well.
1 Stars Reccomendation: avoid
I am a college student who picked up this book with the intention of gaining muscle. I had been lifting weights with no general plan for two years prior and had not seen any results. Mr. Waterburys book is very convincing and lays out a persuasive argument for his approach. However I strongly recommend that this exercise book should be used as a means of last resort. I believe I followed his instructions to the letter: lift heavy, lift fast, use proper form and follow his diet plan. Yet I have sustained two major back injuries and seen no appreciable gains in muscle size. I had never experienced back pain until this book. One injury was in week three of the Get Big phase 1 doing front squats, and another in week two of the Get Strong phase 1 doing deadlifts. Both injuries prevented me from participating fully in my studies and left me in pain, preventing me from sleeping, for weeks. I sunk a lot of money, attention, and time into this book and ended up fatter, immobile, and broke. I am not an expert but I think Mr. Wateburys plans are more suited to experienced weight lifters and that he does not fully appreciate the dangers of lifting near maximal loads as fast as possible. Please carefully consider other options, and make sure you have good health insurance, before committing to this book.
3 Stars Good, but incomplete
Chad Waterbury is a respected name in the fitness coaching business, largely as a result of his regular contributions to sites like T-Nation and [...]. In fact, Huge in a Hurry is largely a crystallization of the training philosophy that he has elucidated in his articles for those sites. And what Waterbury presents is a logical, practical, empirical guide to strength training, though one that I feel is ultimately incomplete.
The author spends the first several chapters laying the intellectual foundation of his training philosophy. Much of this is information that experienced lifters will already know, but it bears repeating nonetheless, if only to aid the logical flow of the book. The second half of the book consists of various training programs/protocols aimed at different ends. Essentially, the book follows the pattern of many others written on strength training.
The author has been training people for quite a while, and he presents many of his ideas in the context of his own experiences. This is always a positive thing for any kind of practical guide. And it’s apparent that Waterbury knows of which he speaks. He quotes peer-reviewed studies to back up most of his larger points, and he holds an advanced degree in the field. I do not take any issue with the author’s knowledge; rather I do question some of his conclusions.
Essentially, the author is a proponent of the three-times-per-week, total-body weight training protocol. This is actually a very old-school program that has made a strong comeback in recent years. And it’s easy to understand why. The body-part training specialization ad infinitum espoused in the Weider magazines has really veered too far off the track of sanity. Most people don’t need twice-per-day workout protocols that drug-enhanced bodybuilders use to prep for the Mr. Olympia. What most people need is basic, sound training ideas that will help them reach their somewhat less lofty fitness goals.
Three-times/total body is one way for people to reach those goals, but it isn’t necessarily the route for everyone. The author firmly believes that lifters should train every muscle group in each workout. He bases this idea on his belief that the old notion of the 48-72 hour muscular recovery is incorrect, and on the idea that more volume will lead directly to greater results. The problem with this idea is that recovery time and volume tolerance are two of the most person-specific variables in weight training. No two people respond to a given protocol in the same way. Some need more volume while others do well hitting each muscle group once a week. Some people make tremendous gains on total body workouts, while others run headlong into overtraining and the wall of diminishing returns.
The author claims that he’s verified that total-body training is the superior protocol through his own experience, but my experience shows that this is a matter of individual response. Certainly many people will do very well on his program, but just as many will struggle, wondering all the while what they’re doing wrong. For these people, some sort of body-part training split may be in order, and I believe that the author should be more careful to note this. Many trainers like the author and Alwyn Cosgrove have made great efforts of vilify body part splits. This seems to me a silly endeavor. Beginning lifters should try all types of programs to see what works best for them. The best program is not what trainer X or Mr. Olympia or Arnold says is the best, it’s the one that works for that person.
That said, the information here is solid, and the book is certainly attractive and well written. I will say that if you’re interested in getting into total-body-training splits, this is definitely the place to start. I wouldn’t, however, go so far as to say that Huge in a Hurry is the definitive word on weight training. Too much is omitted for this book to be considered as such.
3 Stars Cool approach (I think) but frustrating to read/decipher
I totally agree with some of the negative reviews. I’ve been fuming over this book for weeks now, trying to think of a succinct way to explain this ridiculous writing style. This book makes me want to pull my hair out. The first 80 pages are pretty much useless, but interspersed every so often are tiny hints of what he’s really trying to say. It reads the way Eddie Murphy parodies Bill Cosby’s storytelling style. “So you go to they gym and you do blah blah blah. Then, your realize that blah blah blah. Then a gym rat tells you blah blah blah. Then you start to gain weight and get fat. Then another trainer comes to you and says blah blah blah. This makes sense to you. Then you ask blah blah blah, so he responds blah blah blah. Then you lift 100 pounds and are embarrassed. Then your ex-girlfriend sees you and doesn’t notice that you’re working out. Then you start to think blah blah blah. Then a trainer tells you another theory called blah blah blah”. Seriously, almost 90 pages of this, and you can barely figure out which thing is the thing he’s saying is good and which is the one he’s ridiculing. It sounds like a therapy session - this is the singlemost convoluted writing technique I’ve ever read, and I’m including books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Joseph Conrad.
The subheadings are useless as a way to skim back over things you’ve already read - they’re written “cleverly” like one of those maddening “for Dummies” books. Then, after 90 pages, he has 7 pages of how the workout works - though he doesn’t explain very much about the actual technique, certainly not compared to how much detail he goes into when explaining his life story…er…I mean, YOUR life story (see previous paragraph). Then he shows the actual workouts. When I got to them, I saw they referred to “RM”. Was this “reps/minute”? I had to skim back for 5 minutes before I found ONE place farther back in the endless “backstory” where he explaned that RM was “reps maximum”.
One of his two charts in the “intro” essay of how to set up a workout is actually a chart of what NOT to do. How stupid is that? At the very bottom of this page is the pertinent information, buried under a very pretty table of apparently what NOT to do. Regarding details, what about the actual setup of the workout? Is it “set of pulling + 45 seconds + set of pulling + 45 seconds + set of pulling” or is it “set of pulling + 45 seconds + set of pushing + 45 seconds + set of lower body+ 45 seconds” or is it “set of pushing + set of pulling + set of lower body + 45 seconds”? What about the negative? Do I do that fast? Slowly? What about amounts of cardio? Do I really have to read the whole book through 2x to get the exact approach? I mean, he specifically says that we shouldn’t “tinker” (his word) with the exact approach. If it’s that precise, then it should have a better cheat sheet, a better chapter-end summary distilling everything into something to refer back to every few days (especially at first). What about lagging parts like calves that aren’t getting enough stimulation just keeping me balanced during squats? He’s just too in love with the “sound” of his own voice to be able to put together an easy guide. Man, if Schwarzenegger can write a coherent bodybuilding book, I’d think anyone can (or at least anyone should be able to hire a decent ghostwriter). This guy is the Dan Brown of fitness books.
The approach itself, however, seems to really make sense, and I’m very excited about doing it (it’s been 2 weeks). I can’t tell if it’s working, and it’s weird to not feel sore and pumped every day for some nice physical feedback. I feel a little like maybe I get fewer endorphins on my days off, but man is it great to have fewer workouts per week. I totally believe in this novel idea of pulling/pushing faster, explosively, stresses the big fibers. I also like doing the same parts every other day from diff. angles. I really do feel super motivated to head to the gym for my workouts. If the workouts really do work (I’m 39, only 10 pounds heavier than I’ve been since I was 23, wiry, low body fat, classic small bone ectomorph), I’ll be the first to come back here in 16 weeks and give a massively resounding review of the technique, and then maybe write to the author with some rewriting/relayout advice to make this more usable and easily accessible.
5 Stars Great book. Makes sense
I’ve read through most of the book and I have to say that I like what I’ve read so far. I’ve also flipped through the workouts and I’m looking forward to starting asap. I am confused about something though. At the top of “Get Big” phase1 it says to perform each workout 4 times. in workout “A” there are a total of 100 reps between the four excercises. does that mean that you will do a total of 400 reps? and if so, in which order do I perform the workouts? should i be doing 100 reps each workout? I’d really appreciate it if someone cleared this up. thanks
Filed under: Bodybuilding Book Reviews
