Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Buying "Beyond Brawn" was one of the best decisions in my training
life. Before reading it I was uncertain and confused by the
conflicting opinions I had read in other books and on the Internet and
by what my own experience told me. "Beyond Brawn" was the first book
for me to shed light on all aspects of training and building muscle
and strength.What does make this book unique? Stuart McRobert recognizes that each human has a different body
providing different prerequisites for training. Everyone can have
success, but not everyone in the same way. Only very few people for
example can recover from a heavy exercise in two or three days. Yet
many authors keep on recommending programs which only work for genetic
superhumans or steroid abusers. Stuart McRobert shows, how everyone can design his own training
program. He explains, which exercises are safe and productive, what
can be achieved without using drugs, how to get nutrition and
sleep right to maximize gains, how to intelligently plan your training
in advance, how to set up your own home gym, how to deal with injuries
and many other things. McRobert's message: Train less often, shorter, harder and more
productively for life! To the success of all other readers of this great book! (It's true that the book contains many repetitions. Without them it would probably be about 350-400 instead of 500 pages. That's still a lot of highly detailed information.) Important note: You should also get "The Insider's Tell-All Handbook
on Weight-Training Technique" by the same author. This book explains
safe exercise technique in detail for a lot of exercises.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth a read, but not a bodybuilding Bible
Review: Beyond Brawn is Stuart McRobert's advice for the hardgaining bodybuilder. In the book he advocates:
-an enormous focus on correct form and safety precautions
-one workout every three to five days, depending upon how much your body can tolerate.
-focus on the major exercises like squats, deadlifts, dips, pullups, bench press, etc...
-never more than three work sets per major exercise
-increasing resistance in very small increments for medium and advanced bodybuilders
-increasing or decreasing your calorie intake in relatively small increments to gain muscle without gaining too much fat or lose fat without losing too much muscle. I agree with almost everything he says. However, he repeats himself endlessly and makes the occasional reference to his other books. The whole book could have been made 50 pages, perhaps less. I guess he inflated the size so people would take it seriosly as an 'encyclopedia of bodybuilding'. My time is precious, so ten hours of reading that could have been done in an hour and twenty minutes is worth -2 stars. I've made decent progress following his program, although I can't always find the time to work out.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I am amazed that some people who read this book don't "get it". If you are not making gains on this system..you are not trying.
This is the best book on strength training ever written. It tells the truth on how to actually get bigger and stronger.
I speak from 20 years of training experience and as a competitve bodybuilder. This is the text I wish I had read when I started training in 1975.
I spent years wasting my time with 6 days a week training. What a waste. 60 sets of chest...60 sets of legs..3 times a week! The only way I could do it is work and live in the gym (and I did for 10 years)..and I still never got "big" like I wanted. In 18 years of full time lifting I gained about 25lbs, with 15 inch arms.
If you only owned one book about training this would be it.
99% of most "authorites" and personal trainers do not understand proper training or how to make real consistent progress.
I made more gains in 6 months on this program than I had made in the last 10 years. I figured I was "doomed" to be 160lbs to 165lbs forever. Muscular, but still only 165 lbs (for over 15 years despite lifting daily). This book took me to 189lbs in 6 months. No bull, no nonsense. My arms are now 17". You can do it too!
I never thought I could get any bigger..I thought I had "topped out" years ago..I was wrong. Get this book. It's for real.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: If you are genetically average and a non-drug user, this is definitely the book for you. However, all lifters could benefit from following the principles set forth in Beyond Brawn. Stuart makes it abundantly clear throughout the book that the keys to successful training are abbreviated routines with perfect form, rest, sleep and nutrition. If all of these ducks aren't in a row, you're results will be limited at best. This is a book that is meant to be read sequentially, from cover-to-cover and referenced often. While training principles are covered in detail, there may be complaints from some that exercise form and nutrition specifics aren't included. I think including such detail would have made the book much less effective as an instructional guide. That amount of specificity would have broken the flow of the book and increased its size to unwieldy proportions. There are multiple sources that can provide information on form (I recommend Stuart's Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique) and nutrition. Additonally, Stuart does provide some helpful advice with respect to form and nutrition. If you are interested in transforming your body and open-minded enough to learn lessons in contravention to the perceived wisdom of most of the bodybuilding press, I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I have known of Stuart Mcroberts programs for some years, but always made okay progress with other programs, I only turned to his books as i now have less time to train and a much more hectic life outsidet he gym. This book Beyond Brawn'' is the most complete and well written Book i have Read on weight training.Detailing everything you need to know from large matters of training to the smallest yet vital information that might be otherwise overlooked . It gives u sample programs to follow but more importantly it allows you to understand all aspects of weight training, cause and effect, so you can go about developing your own programs that suit YOU given your time and other outside commitments.
I have read many reveiws stating Stuart repeats a lot in this book and it is true, but i found this advantagous in driving home these important points.
If you are looking for excersise tuition this is not the book for you, he has another book for that, which would be wise buying also. this is a cheap investment when u consider that many poeple get zero results out of the way they train now, and most likely spend that much money on useless supplements in a month. Great Book Stuart.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: This is a very good book. I read the ratings here and decided to get the book. Isn't it the right choice! If you only need one body building book, it is this one. I am 32 years old and I increasingly began to realize the importance of correct form and safty. This book drives those concepts home! I also bought his other book on correct forms. These books are definitely keepers!
Rating:
Summary: No Nonsense, Drug-Free Training Advice
Review: Beyond Brawn is about Drug-Free,Genetically average people who want to build muscle and strengthnaturally. The author get's repetitive and preachy at times.His focus on the major compound exerises, ie: squat, bench-press,deadlift, parallel bar dip, pull-up, etc, to attain body massall over the body is good advice.Then, as you gain more muscle, isolation exercises or acsessoryexercises as he calls them can be done to fill in the gaps. I liked the fact that he uses a conservative approach to training. There are 2 & 3 day a week sample workouts in the book.Myself, I train only 2-3 days a week depending on my energy and focus. The most important aspect he emphasizes is perfect exercise form, you can be thinking you'redoing the exercise correctly, but think again. A lot of people overlook this important factor.Also, you need to eat well, sleep9-10 hrs a night, and provide enough time for recuperation. It's that simple, but so many guys overlook this.The author writes like he's actually here with me, talking to me. In the foot notes, he's always emphasizing the important things to remember. I've read other weight training books, like Mike Mentzer's new book, and Staurt Mc Robert's book is fundamentally more sound to my training style. Sorry Mike. Beyond Brawn should be read cover to cover like he says and then read again for reference. Also, the insiders tell-all handbook onweight-training technique is alsoa good investment with Beyond Brawn. If you're a drug-free, genetically average trainer, thisbook's the one to buy.
Rating:
Summary: Grab this book, it'll change your life!!
Review: Throw away all those useless bodybuilding mags and get yourself a true lifechanging experience. This book teaches you everything you need to know to build the best body your gentices will allow. All this without having to live in the gym and spend tons of money on useless supplements. The author is frank and down to earth and it's almost like having your mentor guiding you to success. This book is an absolute must have, regardless of your level of training experience. what have you got to lose, you can return the book for a refund ot the publisher if you are not satisfied. also read what the other reviewers have written. This book has taught millions of ppl to finally get RESULTS from training. and isn't that what training is all about?
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I am amazed that some people who read this book don't "get it". If you are not making gains on this system..you are not trying.
This is the best book on strength training ever written. It tells the truth on how to actually get bigger and stronger.
I speak from 20 years of training experience and as a competitve bodybuilder. This is the text I wish I had read when I started training in 1975.
I spent years wasting my time with 6 days a week training. What a waste. 60 sets of chest...60 sets of legs..3 times a week! The only way I could do it is work and live in the gym (and I did for 10 years)..and I still never got "big" like I wanted. In 18 years of full time lifting I gained about 25lbs, with 15 inch arms.
If you only owned one book about training this would be it.
99% of most "authorites" and personal trainers do not understand proper training or how to make real consistent progress.
I made more gains in 6 months on this program than I had made in the last 10 years. I figured I was "doomed" to be 160lbs to 165lbs forever. Muscular, but still only 165 lbs (for over 15 years despite lifting daily). This book took me to 189lbs in 6 months. No bull, no nonsense. My arms are now 17". You can do it too!
I never thought I could get any bigger..I thought I had "topped out" years ago..I was wrong. Get this book. It's for real.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but takes far too long to say too little
Review: I bought this book six months ago and have been using it with the excellent companion volume, "The Insiders Tell-All Handbook On Weight-Training Technique" to good effect. The problem I have with this book is not the information contained within, but with how long the author takes to put it across. The book is 500 pages long and could easily be one fifth that. Don't get me wrong, the information here is GOOD, but it should have been the first hundred pages of the "companion volume" and not a separate text. But then the author wouldn't have as many books to sell... Worth it, but be prepared to slog through lots of unnecessary verbal padding to find the useful stuff.
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