Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time and money
Review: I found this book and the first Brawn a waste of time. I'm sorry I wasted 3 years lifting using these techniques. This book will not do anything for you. You will not gain anything. Before you buy this book, you must ask yourself why the author never shows his face or physique. Why would you take advice from someone whose physique you have never seen before?
Rating: 
Summary: I should have read this 15 years ago!!!
Review: As I read through this book, I could feel my cheeks burning. I've made many of these mistakes, and worked through countless injuries. Most of the information in this book agrees very closely with the Do's and Don'ts I slowly and painfully learned through cumulative years of Physical Therapy and rehabilitation. You can tell that McRoberts is a school teacher; like any good school teacher, he states his points several different ways, using different examples in order to hammer in some valuable lessons. Read through it twice; the first time with a highlighter to get the main points, and the second time to absorb those points. If you are just looking for a quick way to look better for spring/summer, don't bother with this book. If, on the other hand, you plan to invest serious time and effort in resistance training, this is a "must-read" for all levels and types.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but severely redundant
Review: I really wanted to write a nice review of this book, having read BRAWN earlier (by the same author) and being an advocate of the High-Intensity principles (HIT) of weightlifting. What the author argues is essentially correct for your genetically-average weightlifters...doing less, correctly, with INTENSITY (high poundages, high effort) will give you more benefits than endless marathon workouts, 3-5 times a week. However, having said that, this book, BEYOND BRAWN is so redundant that it distracts from his otherwise well-written principles (as noted in BRAWN originally). I think that he could have compiled both into one definitive book, which would have spoken with more authority. There are areas where he says the same thing OVER and OVER (not to mention doing that throughout the book). In one particular area--squats--the author seems to be trying to set a world-record with the word "squat" and repeating the same thought over and over as if to kill space, something akin to : "You have to be careful doing squats, for squats can injure you, yet using proper poundage squats will give you more growth than any other exercise. Squats are simply better than anything else at growth. If you do squats, correctly, you will find that squats are a great exercise. " There are also endless "side-bar" comments (boxed) which appear to be used by the editor to take up space and properly balance the text, but do not exist for the sake of revealing something new not already stated in the book. Also, while it is nice that the author mentions his own struggles with weights and his own personal quest for size, he remains somewhat of a mystery. You are never really sure how big, or small this "hard-gainer" is. BRAWN is a good book (and much shorter)...but you probably would do better to simply go to a search engine and type in "HIT" and read everything you can about abbreviated routines, instead of shelling out the bucks for this one. It's not a bad book, just too lengthy. If you only get one of them, I suggest this one versus the shorter (earlier) BRAWN, as this one CLEARLY encompasses every thought this guy could have. But you could probably skip both.
Rating:
Summary: It's OKAY
Review: The book isn't bad. I got it and am struggling to finish it. It's drawn out and boring. He repeats and plugs his other books throughout the book. McRobert seems to have good ideas and has a great target market in us HardGainers, but I prefer brief and practical advice. The book is a valueable tool.
Rating:
Summary: CRAP
Review: This has to be the most overrated book ever. For the beginner who's looking for a concise and straightfoward path to follow , i suggest you look elsewhere. This book is filled with a lot of unnecessary repititions and plugs for his other books and frankly speaking it will leave you confused.
Rating:
Summary: The Book
Review: If you are not making much progress following routines promoted in muscle magazines and mass market exercise books, this book is for you. The book contains simple, practical information on every aspect of weight training geared toward genetically average, drug free trainees. There is only a handful of weight training books in print that I consider worth reading, and this one is at the top of my list.
Rating:
Summary: Throw Away All You Other Bodybuilding Books!!!!
Review: I started weight training in January of this year. The first
thing I did was to copy the workouts cited in the major muscle media magazines and the beginner's workout in Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. By March my bodyweight was
the same and my measurements were exactly as when I started. Despite eating big and using the top supplements, I was stuck. I was working out 4-5 days a week like a madman and was worn out. I then found Beyond Brawn and found out what a "hardgainer"
really was. Since Reading This book, studying it, applying
the advice within and patiently persavering, my gains have been
great! since April I have gained 15 lbs of hard muscle and
made 1-2 inch gains on my muscle measurements. I can't believe
it! I now work out 2 times a week and progressively add very small poundage increments to my single joint exercises and about
3-5 pounds a week to my multi-joint exercises(squat and stiff leg deadlift). I have learned more from this book within two weeks of reading it than anything I have ever read on weight training. The advice is straight forward and laughably simple.
Stop killing yourself by following the advice of steroid flooded
bodybuilders! With this book you can build your body and have a life outside the gym too. It is the first system that sounded too good to be true and ended up exceeding my expectations.
All I can say is: BUY THIS BOOK FIRST IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN
BODYBUILDING!
Rating:
Summary: A must have!
Review: I have searched amazon.com's entire stock of bodybuilding/strength training books (over 765) and have purchased and read about 20 from various authors. I have found this book to be the one that I continually refer to on how to properly perform bodybuilding exercises. This book provides a detailed description of the most productive exercises (i.e. bench press, squat & deadlift) unlike any other text. It is imperative to understand the minor details of the exercises you perform. This is especially true as you continue to increase the weight in your exercises. As everyone knows, the heavier the weight the greater the chance for injury. This book will give you the best chance of avoiding an injury and allow you to productively continue to workout in order to achieve your goals. If you plan to workout or are currently doing so, do yourself a favor and purchase this book. Your body will thank you for it.
Rating:
Summary: No Bull, Just the Truth
Review: Most people who start weight training get dysmal results and give up the activity after a short time. If those people had applied the methods taught in Beyond Brawn--and I mean apply them down to the letter, not mixing them with other techniques--they'd have been far happier with their results and would still be training.
Beyond Brawn is a source of truth and inspiration for the typical person in a world of depressing lies and instruction geared toward drug-using subhumans. McRobert's ideas are SO different from what most people are taught, that few will truly implement them to get the results that they could. But for those who follow his methods to a T--only training each lift usually once a week and training at most 3 days per week, but better yet just 2 for most folk--then the results can be astonishing.
Chapter 3 of Beyond Brawn is truly inspiring, and if a person were to apply the basic methods from that chapter for 3 to 5 years, he or she would be thrilled with the results. Unfortunately, most won't have the fortitude to apply the techniques for that long without getting distracted by something else, but for those that do the reward is worth it. Judging from McRobert's own website, most people don't truly apply the methods taught in Beyond Brawn because of too many naysayers and nonbelievers. This book is all you need, with no outside information to slow you down. In fact, seeking advice from other people--especially on the internet--is probably the worst thing you could do if you've read and understood Beyond Brawn. It's all here in this book, all the answers, everything you need to know. Yes, there are other techniques, but reading about them and discussing them will usually just get in the way of your training. McRobert advocates being stubborn and old-fashioned when it comes to your training methods. This is really the mindset that most will need to really change their physique. Read Beyond Brawn, study it till it's dog-eared. Any time you get discouraged, refer to it again. And again. Stick with the basic methods described in the book. Will you change your body in one year? Of course not. It takes at least 3 years to see a substantial difference, and often more for some people. Many people will claim otherwise. Many people are also full of hot air, especially in the depressing world of bodybuilding instruction. Let Beyond Brawn be your source of truth in a world of lies.
Rating:
Summary: Someone finaly gets it
Review: I have read a lot of books and magazines, looking for the next best thing. I have tried high volume/low volume and a number of things in between. McRobert seems to be the first person that finaly figured it out. The book, which is by far longest and best written book on the subject of lifting that I have ever seen, does not give you a program to follow. What McRobert does in the book is teach the reader how to find the best program, for them. He gives you all the tools, and all the technique, to design your own program based on your individual needs. He explains how to cycle your program, and how to choose exercises and days to work out. He explains how rest and nutrition can effect your training. He then leaves it up to the reader to try, and experiment, with each variable to develop their own program. The reason why so many people have had sucess using this "program", is because it's not a program. It should be purchased as a teaching tool. He does not give the perfect program, or lead you to believe that what is in the book will make you a super-star. He just gives you all the information you need to suceed and leaves the rest up to the reader. There is no possible way that you could read this book, and follow the principles taught in it, and not make changes to your body. The information is all there, you just need to be willing to use it.
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