E-Book Reviews - UK-Muscle Body Building Community

SportDr · 28-10-2006, 10:01 AM

In an effort to increase my knowledge and find new inspiration I have bought and read a few E-Books lately and thought I would share my opinions of them with you.

Disclaimer: the following statements are the opinion of the author only and not representative of UK Muscle community or administration.

Muscle Menus 1
Authors: Nicole Bremner & James Collier
Topic: Recipe Book
Date Of Publication: 2003
Price: $24.95 or approximatley £13
Pages: 99
website: http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/bodybuil...ipes.asp#order

Synopsis: A bodybuilding recipe book containing 170 recipes, written by a collaboration of a nutritionist and an enthusiast from the MuscleTalk community.

Review: Muscle menus is well structured, separating into breakfasts, snacks etc by section. Each section contains a variety of recipes to suit most peoples pallates, with some interesting ideas. It is nice to see that they use good old millilitres in a few places instead of cups and occasionally use grams too which I also prefer over cups which is a measure of volume, not weight and can be innacurrate especially with vegetables. They do however swap their use of units between recipes, measuring in mls one recipe for milk then switching back to cups for another, it would appear more organised if a standard unit system were used.

A lot of the recipe ingredients are easily sourced, but still people insist on using unsweetened apple sauce, can anyone get this in the UK?? and as for veal can anyone afford it?

Not sure why the book is priced in $ either, it is by UK based authors, from a UK based site, the use of $, I find misleading.

The book fails to deliver much that hasn't been covered before, and my biggest gripe is the use of 'padding' recipes. Why they put in such culinary secrets as 'scrambled eggs' or the mysterious 'porridge' I dont know, yes I am serious Porridge Recipe: add 3/4 cup oats to 2 cups skim milk, combine and heat!

Looking at the recipes I found quite a few that were EXTREMELY high in fat (by calories), I was looking for nice lean bulking recipes, with an expectation for a few unusual meals to stimulate me to create my own but found recipes that would raise your cholesterol and put flab on like a seal pup! I.E Wiener schnitzel 30/1/16, yes thats 16g of FAT mostly saturated.

If I wanted high fat meals, I would have brought home a mcdonalds menu, its free!

The other problem is that many of the recipes arent complete meals, you have a burger, but no description of what to accompany it with for example, yes they are recipes but I expected meals!

And last gripe is that they have worked out the grams of each macro and number of calories per serving too! but they dont put the ratios down. You can work them out for yourself but I paid good money and expected more for it.

There are good foods here too and few nice ideas, but take out the silly padding recipes and the high fat horrors and you dont have many remaining, add to the fact that you have to add to each recipe to make it complete as a meal and work out your own ratios, then they havent saved you much time either!

I am not sure which type of bodybuilder the book is aimed at, but I guess they must be fans of low carb meals, even then would they really want so much fat? especially from red meat?

My verdict: Not worth the money unless you know NOTHING about nutrition or cooking, but even then there is a danger you might just eat all the wrong recipes in there and end up with a coronary.

SD

SportDr · 28-10-2006, 10:28 AM

Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
Author: Tom Venuto
Topic: Nutrition
Date of publication: 2003
Price: $39.95 or approximately £21
Pages: 341
website: http://www.burnthefat.com/?hop=bffmic

Synopsis: Nutritional advice from a natural bodybuilder.

Review: On first impression, this book is massive, 340 A4 pages of mainly text, I printed it out and got mine bound at staples for £4 and it looks like a telephone directory, which is encouraging!

The author approaches nutrition from every angle, firstly your mind! then establishing what your goals are, mentally and then measuring your body to find physical goals. He then goes on to arm you with all the knowledge you require to formulate your own healthy eating diet, filled with sound advice and not one supplement plug! In fact its all about eating whole foods in the right proportions for health and either lean mass gain or body fat loss.

The book is complete in its information, and doesn't leave you having to guess anything and the advice is adaptable for any body with both basic and advanced techniques of fat loss fully described carb cycling/tapering etc, nothing new but to have it all here in one book at arms reach is fantastic!

On the minus side, the book is heavy for beginners (but worth it), it isn't well referenced, which he excuses and it comes bundled with 5 E-Books which I believe should have been included in the main book anyway. Tom has built a littel empire on this book also, but it costs to get any further help, even his forum has a $9.99 monthly subscription!

The book is worth the money, definately, but at £21 plus the cost of 341 A4 pages plus binding, it worked out at more like £30!! You could get professionally bound books from Amazon for half that price, but I bet they wouldn't be this relevant or complete.

I have been following the advice in this book for two months now, and I can honestly say I have never felt better nor looked healthier.

My advice, buy it, buy it today, study it and make it yours!

SD

SportDr · 28-10-2006, 11:08 AM

The Chris Report
Author: Mick Hart
Topic: Bodybuilding
Date of publication: 2003
Price: £30.25!!!
Pages:76
Website: http://www.bodybuildingandsteroids.com/chrisreport/

Synopsis: One young mans 12 month journey from zero to pro bodybuilder under the guidance of reknowned steroid guru Mick Hart.

Review: Not sure I can write after I paid that sily amount for this book, but bear with me. Firstly be careful when purchasing anythin from Mick Harts site, the prices do NOT include VAT ffs!! and incur a delivery charge also.

I like Micks attitude, he tells it how it is, so I hope he can forgive me for doing the same here.

The Chris report tells the story of Mick Hart's son 'Chris', who decides to take up bodybuilding with a 12 month deadline for a competition. He was relatively untrained at the start but the report details exactly how Mick and chris got him to that competition in which Chris won 2nd place and became a British qualifier.

Two words I used there were innacurrate, one was details and the other was exactly.

The report whilst being a sizeable 70+ pages actually contains a lot of padding, kind of a reflection from Mick on his sons success and justification for him to take steroids, there is also a few sweet introductions to his family and some tear jerking dedications too *sob*

Unfortunately all of this fluff and nicey nicey stuff allowed Mick to omit detail after detail from the programme, which leaves the reader asking, ok how much creatine? what brand of amino's did he use? what dose of dbol was it 5mg or 10mg tabs it just says 7 tabs??

The purpose of these omissions is obvious when you get nearer to the end of the book, Mick offers a PERSONAL no limits telephone consultation to you, at a price of course, a further $47!!!! to answer just these sorts of questions.

Let me assure you, there is nothing exciting here, the routines Mick used were basic full body programmes trained 3 times per week four days off for 6 months then 6 times per week for a further few then contest prep, no details are given about poundages Chris used or any information like, warm up sets?. The cycles were 6 weekly, small and mainly orals of the kinds we all use here although he does not state the tablet sizes?? or manufacturers, and the diet was old school but contained no detail again of what calories Mick was aming for, how many grams protein per pound, or what ratios he was using? Worst of all was the complete ommision of ANY PCT cycle, Mick used a popular anti-e throughout at a low dose but detailed nothing about post cycle?? I would deem this irresponsible but hey he is the guru not me.

Mick claims to give you the reader the information you need to customise it, but with a lack of detail, you will be guessing at best.

I was dissapointed to say the least, I will try the programme and possibly the cycles too one day, although he didnt give the dosages!!!! but I wanted more detail for my money.

Added to my despair was the fact that the company used to download the file is having computer problems, not only may you not be able to download the report but if you do, it may not work as mine didn't. Customer support took two days to answer but did send me an unlicenced copy! Can't help wondering if a disgruntled customer is hacking them.

Buy the book only if you are prepared to pay the extra for a phone consultation, its the only way you can follow what Chris did to the letter, I think any of us could have thought of this routine/cycle/diet but putting it all together and implementing it without faltering is the key to the programmes success.

Verdict; Not sure, intrigued about the phone consult but a lot of money up front and I think some not so honest advertising around the report (basically its a tool to sell Micks consultancy services), in other words it doesn't do what it says on the tin imo save your money if the report is all you wanted. That being said, Mick is a font of much BBing knowledge, he has a glowing BBing CV stretching back 25 years, with a great degree of experience from self experimentation and training others to Olympic standards, even with NO E-Book, a no-limits phone consultation with him could be worth the money, consider the book a bonus?

SD

Chris4Pez · 16-12-2007, 06:55 PM

:bump:

Wee G · 16-12-2007, 09:58 PM

No review of mine? Boo-Hiss....lol.

28-10-2006, 10:01 AM	#1 (permalink)
SportDr Getting HUGE! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: E-Sussex UK Posts: 2,623	E-Book Reviews In an effort to increase my knowledge and find new inspiration I have bought and read a few E-Books lately and thought I would share my opinions of them with you. Disclaimer: the following statements are the opinion of the author only and not representative of UK Muscle community or administration. Muscle Menus 1 Authors: Nicole Bremner & James Collier Topic: Recipe Book Date Of Publication: 2003 Price: $24.95 or approximatley £13 Pages: 99 website: http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/bodybuil...ipes.asp#order Synopsis: A bodybuilding recipe book containing 170 recipes, written by a collaboration of a nutritionist and an enthusiast from the MuscleTalk community. Review: Muscle menus is well structured, separating into breakfasts, snacks etc by section. Each section contains a variety of recipes to suit most peoples pallates, with some interesting ideas. It is nice to see that they use good old millilitres in a few places instead of cups and occasionally use grams too which I also prefer over cups which is a measure of volume, not weight and can be innacurrate especially with vegetables. They do however swap their use of units between recipes, measuring in mls one recipe for milk then switching back to cups for another, it would appear more organised if a standard unit system were used. A lot of the recipe ingredients are easily sourced, but still people insist on using unsweetened apple sauce, can anyone get this in the UK?? and as for veal can anyone afford it? Not sure why the book is priced in $ either, it is by UK based authors, from a UK based site, the use of $, I find misleading. The book fails to deliver much that hasn't been covered before, and my biggest gripe is the use of 'padding' recipes. Why they put in such culinary secrets as 'scrambled eggs' or the mysterious 'porridge' I dont know, yes I am serious Porridge Recipe: add 3/4 cup oats to 2 cups skim milk, combine and heat! Looking at the recipes I found quite a few that were EXTREMELY high in fat (by calories), I was looking for nice lean bulking recipes, with an expectation for a few unusual meals to stimulate me to create my own but found recipes that would raise your cholesterol and put flab on like a seal pup! I.E Wiener schnitzel 30/1/16, yes thats 16g of FAT mostly saturated. If I wanted high fat meals, I would have brought home a mcdonalds menu, its free! The other problem is that many of the recipes arent complete meals, you have a burger, but no description of what to accompany it with for example, yes they are recipes but I expected meals! And last gripe is that they have worked out the grams of each macro and number of calories per serving too! but they dont put the ratios down. You can work them out for yourself but I paid good money and expected more for it. There are good foods here too and few nice ideas, but take out the silly padding recipes and the high fat horrors and you dont have many remaining, add to the fact that you have to add to each recipe to make it complete as a meal and work out your own ratios, then they havent saved you much time either! I am not sure which type of bodybuilder the book is aimed at, but I guess they must be fans of low carb meals, even then would they really want so much fat? especially from red meat? My verdict: Not worth the money unless you know NOTHING about nutrition or cooking, but even then there is a danger you might just eat all the wrong recipes in there and end up with a coronary. SD __________________ I don't like Sports and I am not a Doctor! You expressed and challenged yourself, startled the dozing muscles and welcomed the sweet pain of gain. Boredom begets mediocrity. Enemies both, they deserve swift eradication. Let's hit the weights and build some muscle. Race ya to the bench press. Dave Draper A goal casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle. Zig Ziglar Any advice given is for information only, always seek the advice of your medical practitioner. Use this My Protein refferer code and get a 5% DISCOUNT on your first order! MP2819

28-10-2006, 10:28 AM	#2 (permalink)
SportDr Getting HUGE! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: E-Sussex UK Posts: 2,623	Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Author: Tom Venuto Topic: Nutrition Date of publication: 2003 Price: $39.95 or approximately £21 Pages: 341 website: http://www.burnthefat.com/?hop=bffmic Synopsis: Nutritional advice from a natural bodybuilder. Review: On first impression, this book is massive, 340 A4 pages of mainly text, I printed it out and got mine bound at staples for £4 and it looks like a telephone directory, which is encouraging! The author approaches nutrition from every angle, firstly your mind! then establishing what your goals are, mentally and then measuring your body to find physical goals. He then goes on to arm you with all the knowledge you require to formulate your own healthy eating diet, filled with sound advice and not one supplement plug! In fact its all about eating whole foods in the right proportions for health and either lean mass gain or body fat loss. The book is complete in its information, and doesn't leave you having to guess anything and the advice is adaptable for any body with both basic and advanced techniques of fat loss fully described carb cycling/tapering etc, nothing new but to have it all here in one book at arms reach is fantastic! On the minus side, the book is heavy for beginners (but worth it), it isn't well referenced, which he excuses and it comes bundled with 5 E-Books which I believe should have been included in the main book anyway. Tom has built a littel empire on this book also, but it costs to get any further help, even his forum has a $9.99 monthly subscription! The book is worth the money, definately, but at £21 plus the cost of 341 A4 pages plus binding, it worked out at more like £30!! You could get professionally bound books from Amazon for half that price, but I bet they wouldn't be this relevant or complete. I have been following the advice in this book for two months now, and I can honestly say I have never felt better nor looked healthier. My advice, buy it, buy it today, study it and make it yours! SD __________________ I don't like Sports and I am not a Doctor! You expressed and challenged yourself, startled the dozing muscles and welcomed the sweet pain of gain. Boredom begets mediocrity. Enemies both, they deserve swift eradication. Let's hit the weights and build some muscle. Race ya to the bench press. Dave Draper A goal casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle. Zig Ziglar Any advice given is for information only, always seek the advice of your medical practitioner. Use this My Protein refferer code and get a 5% DISCOUNT on your first order! MP2819

28-10-2006, 11:08 AM	#3 (permalink)
SportDr Getting HUGE! Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: E-Sussex UK Posts: 2,623	The Chris Report Author: Mick Hart Topic: Bodybuilding Date of publication: 2003 Price: £30.25!!! Pages:76 Website: http://www.bodybuildingandsteroids.com/chrisreport/ Synopsis: One young mans 12 month journey from zero to pro bodybuilder under the guidance of reknowned steroid guru Mick Hart. Review: Not sure I can write after I paid that sily amount for this book, but bear with me. Firstly be careful when purchasing anythin from Mick Harts site, the prices do NOT include VAT ffs!! and incur a delivery charge also. I like Micks attitude, he tells it how it is, so I hope he can forgive me for doing the same here. The Chris report tells the story of Mick Hart's son 'Chris', who decides to take up bodybuilding with a 12 month deadline for a competition. He was relatively untrained at the start but the report details exactly how Mick and chris got him to that competition in which Chris won 2nd place and became a British qualifier. Two words I used there were innacurrate, one was details and the other was exactly. The report whilst being a sizeable 70+ pages actually contains a lot of padding, kind of a reflection from Mick on his sons success and justification for him to take steroids, there is also a few sweet introductions to his family and some tear jerking dedications too sob Unfortunately all of this fluff and nicey nicey stuff allowed Mick to omit detail after detail from the programme, which leaves the reader asking, ok how much creatine? what brand of amino's did he use? what dose of dbol was it 5mg or 10mg tabs it just says 7 tabs?? The purpose of these omissions is obvious when you get nearer to the end of the book, Mick offers a PERSONAL no limits telephone consultation to you, at a price of course, a further $47!!!! to answer just these sorts of questions. Let me assure you, there is nothing exciting here, the routines Mick used were basic full body programmes trained 3 times per week four days off for 6 months then 6 times per week for a further few then contest prep, no details are given about poundages Chris used or any information like, warm up sets?. The cycles were 6 weekly, small and mainly orals of the kinds we all use here although he does not state the tablet sizes?? or manufacturers, and the diet was old school but contained no detail again of what calories Mick was aming for, how many grams protein per pound, or what ratios he was using? Worst of all was the complete ommision of ANY PCT cycle, Mick used a popular anti-e throughout at a low dose but detailed nothing about post cycle?? I would deem this irresponsible but hey he is the guru not me. Mick claims to give you the reader the information you need to customise it, but with a lack of detail, you will be guessing at best. I was dissapointed to say the least, I will try the programme and possibly the cycles too one day, although he didnt give the dosages!!!! but I wanted more detail for my money. Added to my despair was the fact that the company used to download the file is having computer problems, not only may you not be able to download the report but if you do, it may not work as mine didn't. Customer support took two days to answer but did send me an unlicenced copy! Can't help wondering if a disgruntled customer is hacking them. Buy the book only if you are prepared to pay the extra for a phone consultation, its the only way you can follow what Chris did to the letter, I think any of us could have thought of this routine/cycle/diet but putting it all together and implementing it without faltering is the key to the programmes success. Verdict; Not sure, intrigued about the phone consult but a lot of money up front and I think some not so honest advertising around the report (basically its a tool to sell Micks consultancy services), in other words it doesn't do what it says on the tin imo save your money if the report is all you wanted. That being said, Mick is a font of much BBing knowledge, he has a glowing BBing CV stretching back 25 years, with a great degree of experience from self experimentation and training others to Olympic standards, even with NO E-Book, a no-limits phone consultation with him could be worth the money, consider the book a bonus? SD __________________ I don't like Sports and I am not a Doctor! You expressed and challenged yourself, startled the dozing muscles and welcomed the sweet pain of gain. Boredom begets mediocrity. Enemies both, they deserve swift eradication. Let's hit the weights and build some muscle. Race ya to the bench press. Dave Draper A goal casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle. Zig Ziglar Any advice given is for information only, always seek the advice of your medical practitioner. Use this My Protein refferer code and get a 5% DISCOUNT on your first order! MP2819 Last edited by SportDr; 28-10-2006 at 11:19 AM.

16-12-2007, 06:55 PM	#4 (permalink)
Chris4Pez “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: UK Posts: 1,082	Re: E-Book Reviews :bump:

16-12-2007, 09:58 PM	#5 (permalink)
Wee G Gym Addict Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Inverness, Scotland Posts: 367	Re: E-Book Reviews No review of mine? Boo-Hiss....lol.