John Romaniello

This is not the kind of book I would usually go for when I am looking for exercise advice. It comes across very 'Bro-Science' like and I avoid this kind of thing like the plague (If you are not familiar with the phrase look up the Bro-Science channel on youtube, its hilarious). However, Romaniello is very engaging in interviews and I was really interested in the hormone manipulation aspect of his approach.

I have read parts of 4 Hour Body by Tim Ferriss in the past and I expected this to be very similar but it is fairly different. This is advertised as a 'lifestyle book' rather than a fitness book but I disagree. This is definitely a fitness book with a few lifestyle comments thrown in along the way.

The first sections are based around explaining the approach along the lines of a zero-to-hero framework along with brief explanations behind some of the concepts adopted. There are scientific research projects mentioned along the way but the publishers removed the reference section which is a huge shame. This makes finding the original study to double check things a bit more tricky than it needs to be.

The sections talking about intermittent fasting (IF) are very interesting though. The authors have borrowed (and credit) an IF approach from a previous study but the name of the author has slipped my mind. The basic concept is that you fast for 16 hours of the day including when you are asleep and then eat what you need in the remaining 8 hours. This is a concept which is getting growing attention in the training world and the results seem to speak for themselves. I am not sure that this approach is for me however.

The final sections are an eating guide and a training guide. Straight out I will say that you will need access to a very well stocked gym to make use of the training guide. It includes dumbell, barbell, kettlebells and cable machine work. Personally I prefer a simpler free weights way of doing things. The eating plan looks like it would take a significant amount of effort to implement which is a shame.

I am fairly certain that anyone who follows this nutrition and training guide will get great results. It will take a large amount of dedication and a chunk of time to do it. Although it has been aimed at people who want significant body composition changes it will be very bewildering for newcomers to training. Another slight issue I have with it is that it appear to be another book based on the self promotional talents of an individual who is involved in the blogosphere love in which is gaining more momentum as time goes on. Some of these individuals come across as modern day snake oil traders. Romaniello seems to be very genuine in his claims and approach so it's a shame that he has fallen in with this crowd.… (mais)

I had mixed feelings on this one, as I do with many fitness/weightlifting books. One the one hand, the authors definitely know what they're talking about, and the research in this book represents cutting-edge fitness advice. Intermittent fasting, calorie cycling, different types of resistance training schemes, all good. On the other hand, the program is fairly complex. In particular, I could never make myself do all those calculations to figure out how many grams of protein, fat, and carbs I should be eating each week -- and even if I could, I couldn't make myself then calculate how many I actually consumed! Also, this *is* a fitness/diet book, despite the attempts to pretty it up into something more profound. The "remake your life/become a new man" bits seem a bit contrived. (Although, points to the authors for including Campbell's "hero's journey" in the book -- this was interesting and entertaining.)
To sum up, plenty of good knowledge here, but hard to digest and assimilate, at least for me.… (mais)