I don't want to get one of those huge bible type books that talks about everything from A to Z, I want something that will give me a specific routine to follow and one that doesn't require me going to the gym 6 days a week. I want an effective routine that I can follow with three days at the gym, preferrably two because I like to do other things at the gym like pilates (yeah, i'm a dude) so I would like to have some time for that also and I don't do weekends. My goal is all about looks I'll admit...I want to look well built. I don't care about being big and bulky. I'm pretty much the size I want to be I just want to burn off the excess fat and then reshape some areas so they look more muscular. For example, I like the size of my arms, but I want them to have that look where you can see the separation where the shoulders meet the side of the bicep and triceps and want my chest to be tighter and more solid but not necessarily bigger. I guess I want to do more reshaping than bulking up.

New rules of lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove.

Seriously - buy it now. Its the 1st book anyone should read.

After reading that you'll know everything you need to know. If you want to get more complicated after that then you'll be looking at sports science books, not workout bibles.

I'll second NROL.

I'm doing FLII right now and I've seen good results. I've also heard one guy say he's gotten the greatest muscle gains of his life doing the hypertrophy programs.

They aren't easy, but with enough discipline and a proper diet, you'll see the results you want.

I dont mean to 'big myself up' but I already knew 90% of whats in the book.
What I loved about it tho is how the information is presented and how informative the book is.

I started Hyp I, just cos I wanted to follow the book, more of an experiment. And I loved it. I'm going to do strength I next.

Cynic - what order are you doing? and what are you looking forward to the least? personally Hyp II makes my knees shake just looking at it!

I'm doing FLI and II, then I'll assess my status. If I'm at my goal, I'll do HYPI, II, then FLI and II again to trim down for summer, then strength I and II over summer.

I'm looking forward to the lunges (bulgarian or otherwise) supersetted with step-ups the least.


One exercise I'm not fond of is the bulgarian split squats. I have trouble with my balance and it makes the exercise last very long.

bulgarian split squat! tell me about it.

Its a great exercise, but it really is a killer. I thort I had great ballence. Untill I tryed this and realised I had some way to go!

Following the routine recommended in the book how many days a week would I have to work out? I don't want to buy it and then find out I need to do 4 days a week. Three days would be max for me, two ideally.

Three times a week.

Yeah 3.
But if you can only do 2 days, then its better to follow a good program 2 days a week than a bad one.

And Cynic - check your private messages!!!!

Agreed 100%!


Anybody recommend that book by Sly Stallone? Its got the workouts that got him into Rambo or Rocky shape, lol.

Sly had a book out!!!

It will look like this

Workout 1
wooden cart lifts

run in the snow till you grow a beard

and one arm push ups.


Diet

5 raw eggs

LMFAO

Dont forget chasing that damn chicken through an alley.

Oh and the clothing required is gray sweatpants or a headband.

Don't forget about running up a million steps ....oh...and eating your stallone pudding....

these are the worst on the 3x15 days with only 30 second rests. I usually collapse after the third set, then flop around on the ground trying to finish my reverse crunches!

I phrased that wrong. I'm not looking forward to them.