Download PDF Built for Show Four BodyChanging Workouts for Building Muscle Losing Fat andLooking Good Eno ugh to Hook Up Nate Green 9781583333198 Books

Product details Paperback 256 pages Publisher Avery (November 20, 2008) Language English ISBN-10 1583333193

Built for Show Four BodyChanging Workouts for Building Muscle Losing Fat andLooking Good Eno ugh to Hook Up Nate Green 9781583333198 Books Reviews

• Several years ago, at the age of 34 and following a series of traumatic life events, my weight had dropped to 132 pounds (I'm 5'11''). When I started to date the woman who would eventually become my wife, and I found out that her last boyfriend had been in the military, I thought it would be a good idea to get in better shape despite her protests to the contrary. That decision led me to purchase Built for Show, and I credit Nate Green for teaching me the basic of how to actually train in the gym. The book contains a year-long program that starts with a kind of warm-up phase in the Fall (it doesn't really matter what the season actually is when you start), progresses in to a bulking phase in the Winter, builds more general fitness in the Spring, and then finishes with a cutting phase in the Summer. It took me about 18 months to complete the program due to travel and injuries, but I stuck with it and I can say that it really did change my life. Upon completion of the program I was about 165 pounds and much more physically capable than I had been at 132. And my (now) wife had to admit that I looked a lot better.
  
  Summary Great book for someone who's just getting into working out.
  
  Pros Nate is engaging and funny, so you feel you have a training partner in the gym. The workouts are fun and well-designed. I liked the focus on full-body training and functional fitness. Having completed Built for Show, I'll never work out without using some sort of program again - it's a much more effective and interesting way to train than going to the gym and just doing whatever. And I thought the life-style tips were entertaining and somewhat helpful. In the end, the key to attracting women is actually being the kind of man that women want to be with, and Nate gives some reasonable advice on that front.
  
  Cons Some of the workouts (especially in the Winter) really did take too long, and the Summer workouts were so intense that I developed heart palpitations from over-training (they went away once I broke the workouts in half and did four half workouts a week). I also think that even more focus could have been put on the form of the exercises. I hurt my lower back and neck on a few occasions, so maybe insisting that readers meet with a trainer at the start of each phase to go through the movements for that phase would have been a good idea.
  
  Next steps Following Built for Show, I used Huge in a Hurry for about six months and got up to 187 pounds. This essentially required force-feeding myself (some days eating/drinking up to 10,000 calories). Although I thought I was a little overweight, I received many compliments and it changed the way I thought of myself. After using an assortment of other routines, none of which I would particularly recommended, I found P90X and now I will only ever train at home. It's just too convenient. The downside of the home training though is that it can be harder to lift heavy weights, and my weight has now dropped all the way down to 155. BUT, I am a ripped 155 and very happy with how I feel and how my body moves. So, in the end it's been a journey, and I credit Nate Green for helping me get started. Thanks Nate!
• Like any other field; weight training has many books written for it some great, some ok, some down-right awful. It is safe to say that no one person, resource or publication can claim to be the "be all, end all" authority on the subject.
  
  With that being said, this book definitely falls under the "great" category. Perfect for beginners and intermediates (and the vast majority of us fall in that category).
  
  The information and advice offered should certainly form the basics on which you will build your weight training path for here-on-forward. Important points covered
  
  Exercise Selection On what basis should you select your exercises? What is the difference between "isolation" and "compound" exercises?
  
  Sets, Repetitions & Frequency How much and how often should you weight train and why?
  
  Training Principles How does our body react to exercise? Do we really know everything we think we know about putting on muscle and losing fat?
  
  Building a Program Putting it all together.
  
  Steroids, Genetics & Reality Can we all look like movie stars and fitness models? This book will not sell you a false promise of becoming the next Arnold, but it will show you how to become the best you can be, and that alone is pretty damn good.
  
  Nutrition Realistically speaking, how can the average urban man eat everyday in order to maintain a good looking, well preforming physique?
  
  Supplementation Do well really need all these supplements? Some of them? None of them?
  
  Don't knock it till you try it; if the advice in this book seems absurd, fine. Just don't claim it doesn't work until you give it all you got. You will not be disappointed.
  
  I always advise to learn exercise technique first-hand, for (almost) everything else just read this book.
  
  Excellent job Nate.
• I'm only through the first of four phases right now, so I'll give four stars out of five, because I can't say yet how effective the year long program is overall.
  
  I'm giving this book four stars though for the excellent workouts provided. My own workout routine had long since become stale and not very challenging. I was extremely happy to find myself challenged by the workouts in this book. More importantly, I find myself really looking forward to going to the gym and looking ahead to the workouts in the next phases. That was huuuuuge. Thanks!
  
  Some of this book is fluff and just not very interesting to me. Not really interested in the whole pickup or womanizing aspect. I really liked Nate's tips on eating better though. I'm not going to eat a plain chicken breast and a protein shake every day. Nate's chapter on nutrition provides some really good advice on how to eat like a normal human being in a healthier manner and not overdo it. I really appreciated those tips.