Author: Alain Gonzalez
Recommended For:
Beginner-Intermediate
Price: $47
Format: E-Book (Electronic Delivery)
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Alain Gonzalez talks a lot about the “anabolic triggers” that must be present in order to make a workout inspire muscle growth. I was anxious to find out what he was referring to when I got “Bony to Brawny“.
I didn’t find anything exciting in his list of triggers. It was mostly the same things that others will tell you to do, they just don’t necessarily refer to them as anabolic triggers.
The rest of the “Bony to Brawny” program is more of the same:
Basic hardgainer training.
That may sound like a criticism but it really isn’t. The truth is that “basic hardgainer training” works and works extremely well. Altering it is often met with underwhelming results.
While “basic hardgainer training” may seem simple to implement, it is often screwed up by novice trainers. An outstanding presentation of it can make for a very valuable program.
I feel Gonzalez does a decent job with “Bony to Brawny” but not outstanding. The main ebook and its companion eating guide do go over the important points of building muscle. They seemed to me to stop a little short of successfully answering all the questions that arise regarding those points.
Of note, Gonzalez does offer to answer any questions via email. This is a rare bonus in such programs these days (though one I’ve always liked).
On another note, Gonzalez really liked my article on Adequate Rest To Maximize Muscle Gain. I know he liked it because he paraphrased it in one of his other ebooks (“Mass In A Flash”). Strangely, I wasn’t cited.
Included are videos of Gonzalez performing all the exercises that are in his routines. This is a nice touch. Though, like the rest of the program, I felt he stopped short of providing the depth that would have made these interesting and invaluable to the beginner (there are more things than a quick tip or two will cover to get a beginner squatting correctly).
Also, at the risk of sounding like a nit-picky ass, I found having to sit through the same 30-second plus intro for every 4-minute video pretty annoying. (OK, so that definitely made me sound like a nit-picky ass).
The program isn’t written particularly well and there are some analogies I found more confusing than enlightening. There is some unique stuff that I found interesting such as Gonzalez’s views on “inactive recovery”. Overall, however, I found the program a little light on unique insight.
The routines appear to be logical and have the potential to be effective.
2 of 5 Stars: This is an okay program that can help steer the beginner away from some common errors. It just isn’t a great program – there are alternatives out there that better prepare the beginner to make big gains.
Also, at least in my mind, you discredit everything you do when you credit yourself with another’s work. Where does the stuff I don’t recognize come from?
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