The Year 1 Challenge for Men: Bigger, Leaner, and Stronger Than Ever in 12 Months (Build Muscle, Get Lean, Stay Healthy Series)

I'm in week 8 of the Year One Challenge, and it is working! I look and feel better, and I haven't even adjusted my eating habits yet (I know, I should have done this already). I'm following the workouts as closely as I can; I have a weight machine from years ago, and the workouts are designed around dumbbells and barbells in a gym, so I have had to adjust some things, but so far, there isn't anything I can't halfway copy with my weight machine, since I don't want to spend the $$ on a gym membership with a machine sitting here unused. The Year One Challenge, and the Bigger, Leaner, Stronger program overall, is designed for guys (and girls, but you have your own Year One book, don't get this one) who have not previously worked out or who have not done so very seriously. It tells you exactly which workouts to do on each day and how to know how much weight to use. Nothing here is cutting edge but that's why it works. It is tried-and-true, simple workout strategies. Michael Matthews isn't selling you some fad diet that will blow out by next year, and he isn't using his book to sell products (he does sell products on his website, but I haven't bought anything from him other than the books and you won't need to, either). You don't need to keep buying things for this to keep working. All you need are a gym membership, protein and determination. That's it. He is telling you real workout truth, so if you are already a gym guy who has seen good results in your lifts, you probably won't learn anything you don't already know. However, if you are new to the gym, maybe thinking about a membership as a New Year's Resolution, and you don't know much about how to work out properly so you see good gains without injuring yourself, this book is for you. (Get the paper version, not Kindle. You have to be able to write in this like a journal.) Michael has made everything very clear and simple; there is very little to have to figure out. Exercise has become way overly complicated because there are thousands of 'fitness gurus' out there and anybody and everybody is telling you something different. I can tell you, this program works. There are no shortcuts, and no instant results. Year One is only your starting point. Fitness is a life-long endeavor with life-long benefits. This book goes along with Bigger, Leaner, Stronger by Michael Matthews, a no-nonsense approach to effective weight lifting. I highly recommend getting both, along with The Shredded Chef. All three together form the Bigger, Leaner, Stronger program. You can get the other two books in Kindle versions (which is especially nice with the cookbook for quickly finding recipes), but for Year One, you definitely want the paper copy.

Having a workout plan already written down makes it very easy to stick with your workout routine and track your progress. The previous workout routines I've done kept switching the exercises around and I wasn't keeping track of how much weight I was lifting. Even though this workout journal keeps the same X number of exercises, it's awesome to watch yourself get better at those lifts and you can hold yourself accountable for getting better with this journal. I have been using this journal for about 6 months now and I've made considerable progress on my lifts. I had been lacking pretty badly on my squats and deadlifts and I'm happy to say that I'm doing a lot better now. Keep in mind I've been working out already for 4 years straight, so no newbie gains here :) Stats at beginning -> 6 months in: 5' 7" 151.5 lbs 12% BF -> 156 lbs 13% BF Bench: 170x5 -> 205x5 Overhead Press: 105x5 -> 135x5 Squat: 155x5 -> 225x4 Deadlift: 200x5 -> 280x4 As far as the squat and deadlift goes, a lot of the progress can be attributed to my form getting a lot better (plus I took it a bit easier at the beginning to get used to the lifts). Consistently doing these exercises helped me get much better at these lifts and helped me push more weight just from improving my form alone. In summary, I really like this journal because it holds you accountable, the workouts are consistent, and you can ensure you are progressing with your lifts.

This sure beats writing everything down yourself! I'm not sure I'll bring this to the gym for the same two previously mentioned reasons: (1) it's bulky size, and (2) the...well...um...picture that makes me a little self-conscious. I'm not sure how I'll go about it - probably write down everything the night before and memorize it or take a pic of the page on my phone. Maybe there's a smaller version out there???? I started my journey to weight loss and heath on New Year's Day 2013 and am down about 165 pounds to date (from 350 to 185). At first it was diet only, and then I added more and more cardio as I was able. After a few more months I realized that I had better do some weight training or I'd end up weak with a lot of muscle loss in spite of all the hard work and discipline. As I asked around and started reading about exactly what to do and why to do it I found a lot of confusing and contradictory voices coming from all sorts of sources. Eventually I found Bigger, Leaner, and Stronger that cut through a lot of the malarkey and made a lot of sense. I felt the author brought a good balance of personal experience and research homework to the table and concluded that he is one of the good guys worth listening to. He confirmed many things I had already figured out but gave me several new things to try and corrected a couple of things I had been doing wrong. I'd rate my current weight training regimen as "adequate" so I'm going to take the plunge and change things up. When school's out this May I'm going to begin the year 1 challenge, peeling myself more away from the machines and make friends with the barbell (especially the dead lift and the squat). At 45 years old I'm now back to my high school weight and stronger than I was then - and now I have a program to take me to the next level. I'm really looking forward to it, and this log book, though not quite what I had hoped for, should serve as a great tool to stay on track and monitor my progress. Thanks for being one of the good guys in the fitness world.

Michael gives you an easy to follow workout schedule for an entire year. You can make notes in this book to keep track of your progress. It gives me the opportunity to train in an effective way.

Good one !

Awesome book. helps me keep track of my workouts. I received my book a little damaged but the book itself is great if you have read Bigger Leaner Stronger.

I had the original version of this workbook and this one is a vast improvement. Before you look at buying this, you should know this is a workbook, essentially a workout journal that is to be used in conjunction with the Bigger Leaner Stronger book. It is really not a standalone book for learning about Mike Matthews workout system. So, assuming you buy (and read) the Bigger Leaner Stronger book then this is a really great journal to track your progress with. The spiral bind is a vast improvement on the old normal binding and much more durable for the workout room. Definitely worth the buy !

La mejor guía para una rutina para ganar músculo para principiantes. Ojo, cuando digo principiantes y como dice el libro, se considera principiante al que no haya ganado 15-25 lbs de puro músculo, si no has logrado eso aún eres principiante y esta es la rutina perfecta