By Phil Harris
Will
Brink is one of the most widely read authors in the muscle building
industry today. His articles can be found in such magazines
as
"Muscle Mag International" and "Muscle and Fitness", just to name a
few. Will is also not only an author, he is a
bodybuilding
judge, and trainer to many top-level bodybuilders. Will Brink
is
a very highly regarded mind within the muscle building
industry that
combines great intellect (he is a Harvard graduate) along with
practical experience. His 632 page opus, Bodybuilding Revealed, is a
testiment to his knowledge and his ability to communicate what he knows.
Portions of Bodybuilding
Revealed
are authored by another great mind to tap when you want to know how to gain muscle mass
- Charles
Poliquin. Charles Poliquin is perhaps the preeminent strength
coach in the U.S., if not the world. He has spent years
researching strength journals from all over the world (he is fluent in
several languages) and speaking with other coaches and scientist to
optimize training methods.
Why so much on biography?
Simple, when these guys talk you must absorb
everything
possible. With Will Brink as the author and Charles Poliquin
as a
contributor this is a gold mine of information. The book is
great, and there is a forum for ongoing education. I highly recommend Bodybuilding Revealed
for the intermediate to advanced trainee. The novice should
get a
firm foundation to understand and implement the basics before embarking
on this program. Once they have the foundation though, they
should run to purchase Bodybuilding
Revealed.
Does it support
your goals?
If
your goal is to take your quest to gain muscle mass
to the next level, then the
answer is an enthusiastic yes. If you are a beginner looking
for
everything spelled out for you into "recipes", you would be better off
with one of our other recommendations. Having said that,
Brink
does do a good job of covering foundational knowlege that is necessary
to build upon. Of course, there is much more to
building muscle than just lifting weights. In Bodybuilding Revealed
Will Brink covers the major areas of nutrition, supplements,
training, and cardio. Brink does a thorough job covering
these
areas that any serious trainee must know.
In
the Chapter "Completing the Picture", Brink covers SMART
goals,
planning, and how to track your progress. One of
the
biggest assets here is actually the online forum. In the
online forum there is a community of trainees and experts to
share questions, knowledge, and experience. In my experience,
having a community to help can be the single biggest factor in
acheiving goals.
Does it support
your body type?
Are you skinny (ectomorph), fat (endomorph), or lucky (the mesomorph is
lean and muscular and gets bigger when he smells weights)? Do
you seem to have an abundance of fast twitch muscle fibers (fast
sprinter or a good jumper) or slow twitch muscle fibers (good at
endurance activities)? These are actually just a few of the
questions that come into play. Charles Poliquin's
section
on "Individualization of Mass Gaining Programs" covers several of the
contributing factors along with their diagnosis and resolution.
Charles boils the information down into 21 principles that
trainee's can apply for the rest of their careers. Do you
know if
your body is recovering from your workouts? Do you know how
much
time you should spend under tension? How do you determine
training frequency? These are samples of the types of
questions
this section will answer, and while these may seem like elementary
questions to some, as your body changes and adapts to stress, you
must be able to recognize the change and correct for it if you want to
make
continued progress.
Does it look at
nutrition sensibly?
Nutrition
is arguably the most important topic when it comes to muscle building.
In fact, most bodybuilders will tell you that the time they
really started to accomplish their goals is when they understood proper
nutrition. Brink starts by leveling the nutritional playing
field, and making sure that everbody understands the basic
macronutrients, which sources are good, and which ones to avoid.
The Brink Food Pyramid is a great visual representation of
what a
trainee should eat, and in what proportions. Make no mistake,
although this may sound similar to the U.S. Government's Food Pyramid,
Brinks pyramid has not been affected by lobbyists and special interest
groups.
Chapter 3: "Constructing the Muscle
Building Diet" gets
a little more complicated, but necessary for the serious trainee.
He starts by discussing Total Daily Energy Expenditure and
the
contributing factors. This is a necessary discussion to take
into
consideration how many calories/day you need to build muscle.
While Brink goes through methods and calculations for
determining
how many calories/day the trainee needs, the Meal Planner is what
really makes it easy. Here, you enter your body weight, body
type, and a little more information about yourself.
Finally, a report tells you how many calories you should eat
along with the grams of protein, carbs, and fat.
Finally,
Chapter 4: "Completing the Picture" discusses such topics as food
preparation, shopping, eating out, and my favorite; the Meal Planner.
The Meal Planner is an online resource that will give you the
exact quantity of what foods you should eat per meal. This
takes
the guess work out of calorie counting and food preparation.
Great resource.
Does it teach you
how to avoid injury?
A major component to build muscle fast is definitely the avoidance of
injury. As one of the bonus materials in Bodybuilding Revealed,
Dr. Evan Peck (a Resident Physician at the Baylor College of Medicine
in Houston, TX) dedicates an entire section to weight training
injuries. Naturally, this is no replacement for individual
diagnosis and treatment by a qualified physician. However,
the
information contained within these pages will form the guidelines that
a sound program may be built upon. After 30 years of
training, I
really can't emphasize enough that you need to take the "long haul"
view about your body. Injury avoidance will go a long way in
deciding just how long of a haul your body can make.
Is there balance
to the program?
Balance is one of the strengths of Bodybuilding Revealed.
The ebook and member's site look at training holistically.
Nutrition, supplements, training, and cardio are all covered.
In the member's area, you look at various opinions along with
their critiques by very well-qualified moderators. You can
also
submit your own posts for "peer review". There is an absence
of
stretching in the ebook, except for Dr. Peck's statement that there are
plenty of good resources on stretching and it is beyond the scope of
his section of the ebook. Personally, I feel that although it
may
have been beyond the scope of his section, stretching should have been
covered somewhere else in the ebook or member's area. This is
one
topic I believe could have been improved.
Does it include
the principles of recovery?
Charles
Poliquin's section on "Individualization of Mass Gaining Programs"
gives some very simple guidelines to follow in Principle #3 on training
frequency. In the simplest terms, if you are not getting
stronger
between your workouts, you are either overtraining or under
recouperating. The ebook and member's area on the website
contain a wealth of information on what to do to maximize these areas
when you want to gain
muscle mass. Hey, we have all overtrained at
some point.
The idea is recognizing the state your body is in between
workouts and making adjustments accordingly. The Bodybuilding Revealed system gives
you the tools you need to do just that.
Is it easy to
follow?
Actually, it can be a bit overwhelming if you are just starting out.
All of the information a beginner needs is in Bodybuilding Revealed,
but you are going to have to be patient and take your time to find the
right place to start. Having said that, if you have been
involved
with diet and training for awhile (times will vary per the individual,
but use training consistently for 1 year as a guideline) the
information provided is like being a kid in a candy store.
These
are the top experts in the field of muscle building
telling you what you need to know to keep building muscle in the long
run. The online forum is also a great place to get your
questions
answered as well as find out how other people are getting their
questions answered. So, in terms of answering if it is easy
to
follow, the online forum can keep you from spinning your wheels when
your training gets stale.
Are the
supplementation principles sound?
Actually,
Will Brink is one of the industry's top authorities on supplements and
knows what he is talking about. With all of that knowledge,
does
he convey the information in a fashion that is uselful.
Definitely. Bodybuilding Revealed
contains an entire section on supplements that is based on scientific
research. Here, Will gives fact-based reviews on what works
and
what doesn't. The "Supplement Scorecard" does a great job of
laying out what works and what doesn't in an easy-to-read, abbreviated
manner. Of course, Will has all of the detailed information
to
back up what he is recommending if you desire to learn more.
In
the online forum, you can see reviews for over 440 brand name
supplements. Again, don't underestimate the value of reading
answers to other trainees' questions and getting your own questions
answered online. The section on supplements alone, along with
the
member's forum, will more than recoup the cost of the program.
Does it support
the mental side of training?
Most of the people that buy Bodybuilding Revealed
are experienced and already plenty motivated.
Having said
that, there is a forum in the member's area that is dedicated to the
mental side of training. Some of the threads cover realistic
goal
setting, overcoming junk food cravings, and people just trying to get
over training in a funk. The sense of community is great for
anybody endeavoring to reach a goal. In fact, it is often
said
that you become your peer group. When it comes to the mental
side
of training (or accomplishing any goal for that matter) reading and
audio programs are great for foundational knowledge and giving you a
mental boost. Adding the community aspect of motivation and
troubleshooting will take you to the next level. For this
reason,
I give their mental support an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
Quick Details:
Full Title : "Brink's Bodybuilding Revealed"
What we call it "BBR"
Current Standard Sales Price : $77
Current Deluxe Package $88
Product Information
Brink's Bodybuilding Revealed [BBR], consists of the e-book, a number
of high quality bonuses and 12 months access to the private members
area and forum that accompanies the e-book.
The BRR E-book.
At the heart of the BBR system is the BBR
e-book. Some 500 pages of quality information that forms a unique and
powerful bodybuilding system. The e-book is split up into 5 components
which are each covered in depth and allow the user to follow a clear
blueprint to achieve the lean mass results they are looking for.
The 5 components of the e-book are:
- Nutrition and Muscle Building
Diet
- Supplement Reviews & Advice (Over 50
reviews are included)
- Training - From beginner to Advanced.
- Cardio / HIIT
- Motivation and the Mental Edge.
The BRR Private Members Area
In addition to the quality bonus material BBR customers receive, a
large part of the value a customer receives when purchasing BBR is the
12 months access to the BBR private members area.
In the BBR members area, customers have access to a
vast number of high quality tools:
- Some of these tools include:
- 1 on 1 on access to Will Brink and paid, trained
coaches
- A highly organized and moderated private forum
- An online Diet Planner which amongst other
functionality, allows users to store their diets, create recipes, view
their progress, tally macro nutrients, create meals, provide a visual
graph of LBM gained and fat lost, and log every single piece of food
the eat with real time analysis. In general keep a tight grip on their muscle building
diet
- Exercise Videos: Customers can watch all the
exercises from the training section with online videos.
- Nutrition Database, allows customers to find out
the protein, fat, carb and other values of over 20,000 foods, these can
then be implemented as custom foods into the Diet Planner
- Gallery, users can upload photos and get feedback
from others
- Pre Made Diets and Workout Charts, customers can
download dozens of pre made diets in Excel/PDF format, as well as
printable workout charts for all the workouts in the e-book (including
charts for Charles Poliquin's section)
- Daily motivation quotes and a weekly bodybuilding
video are shown.
- Users can chat in real time with the popular chat
box
- Resources, such as body fat % calculators, 1 rep
max calculator are all included
- Guru Articles, a section with exclusive content
from authors such as Will Brink, Tom Venuto, Charles Staley, Milos,
John Berardi and others.
Conclusion:
I personally use Bodybuilding Revealed
as my own personal reference. The authors of the main ebook
and
bonus reports are some of the brightest minds in the industry.
The ebook itself is well worth the price. Combine
that with
the online members area, and you have one of the premier resources for
information available on the internet when you want to gain muscle mass .
If you are serious about your training, buy Bodybuilding Revealed by clicking here now.
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