My Review of “Optimum Anabolics”

by JP – Updated: 09/24/2016

As a beginning trainer, things can seem easy.  You train hard and diet well and you are rewarded with muscle gains.   Pretty simple, eh?

But then you meet bodybuilding’s most dreaded enemy: The Plateau.

Despite continuing to train hard and eat well, suddenly the gains stop coming.

What gives?

Your body has adapted.  You must make changes to your approach if you expect to start seeing progress again. It’s a frustrating lesson to learn.

(While it IS frustrating, it is also what makes bodybuilding interesting, right? Right? If it wasn’t for plateaus, if there was simply a simple routine that anyone could follow that would build muscle continuously, would you really be all that interested? Am I alone in that thinking?)

Jeff Anderson’s “Optimum Anabolics” program is all about plateaus.  Not just getting past them but avoiding them in the first place.

Anderson introduces you to 8 anabolic factors that are the key to maximum muscle gain.  Among those factors are things you are probably familiar with, things like tempo, training frequency and diet. One of the factors listed, however, is likely to furrow your brow…

That factor is what Anderson calls Hyper-Adaptive Cycling.  It is the “meat” of the program. Basically, it is an approach of cycling your diet (primarily through your protein intake) and your training intensity.  The goal is to stay one step ahead of your body’s natural defense mechanisms which are what create plateaus.

Cycling in these ways isn’t conceptually new to the bodybuilding world. Hardcore bodybuilders have been experimenting with these methods for years.  Anderson (or the “Muscle Nerd” if you please), however, presents a relatively simple but well-reasoned and scientifically sound solution to the problem.

I say “relatively simple”.

Compared to basic hardgainer strategy it is complex.  I would recommend basic strategy to the beginner and this program to an intermediate or advanced trainer.

That said, this program doesn’t assume much knowledge (Optimum Anabolics works through the basics) so a beginner wouldn’t be lost. The three week protein deprivation diets aren’t going to be easy for a dieting newbie though and are, arguably, overkill for maximum muscle gain in the beginner.

Anderson teaches you all about the way the body works, how it is naturally programmed to work against you building the extra muscle mass you desire.  And then he teaches you how you can actually re-program it, how you can use the same natural defense mechanisms that can prevent you from growing and, through the use of specific techniques, actually use those mechanisms to produce extraordinary gains.

After getting right to the point and presenting the hyper-adaptive process to you, Anderson takes you through the other 7 anabolic factors he’s identified.

The companion workout ebook pulls the entire training strategy together.  It takes you day-by-day through 24 weeks of the Optimum Anabolics program.  You are training 5 days a week for workouts that will last a little under an hour and there is enough variety to keep it interesting.

The dieting section is detailed as well.   It is an important part to the program.  Anderson helps you design your diet and entire program based on the primary goals you have, whether those are to gain mass, lose fat or maintain and improve on all accounts.  He does a good job of providing tips to help ease the strain of dieting and making it doable.

His supplement coverage is a little disappointing only because he is so knowledgeable on the subject, it leaves you wishing he was a little more in depth.  However, it is fair and adequate.

3 of 5 Stars: Optimum Anabolics takes you a bit beyond the traditional training philosophies that inhabit the muscle building world.  It isn’t just taking you somewhere new just for the heck of it, just to be unique.  It has a purpose.

It is sort of a beginner’s approach to advanced training.

Anderson’s “muscle nerdness” is on full display in Optimum Anabolics.  It is a well-presented program that is well-explained.

(No Longer Being Sold That I Can Find)

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