Private BB Forums, Paysites, Books?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I spent over two years as part of Will Brink’s private online forum–no doubt it’s a nice place, and the price is way reasonable for what you get there.

However, now that my year;y membership’s recently expired, I wonder whether I should renew or not.

Here are the reasons I’ve postponed my membership renewal :

Should I explore what other authors have to say ? Obviously, there comes a point where experts are simply repeating what others have found to be true, like Chris Thibaudeau, and that’s perfectly ok to me, because one can’t uncover it all I suppose.

Are such paysite really that helpful, as opposed to a place like T-Nation where there seems to be a lot of free of charge info available ?

The thing is I’m 36 and resumed weight lifting 4 months ago, and so far so good, but I have very high standards, and at 36 if I ever want to really see my personal goals to materialize, I better not slow down–that is, I want the best as regard nutrition information, supplements and supplements timing etc…

On the other hand, I also do not want to throw my heard earned money outta window either.

Someone in my other thread on best diet cookbook out there recommended John Berardi’s Gourmet nutrition, which I think is a top-notch pick so far as experts out there.

I’d like to get suggestion regarding best paysites, or private forums and books, and authors that you’d rate as best of the best.

Sure, I already have a pretty good idea what my nutrition and training should be like as well as what supplements to have in my arsenal, but since I’m a detail oriented type of dude, I believe details can make a noticeable difference in one’s success vs someone else’s failure.

Many thanks all.

2

I’m sure that during those two years you learned diet/training basics needed to make a simple plan and start making progress.

Now it’s just a matter of applying what you learned and having enough confidence in yourself to make the necessary adjustments you need to break through sticking points.

No one knows your body better than you. Not even the experts. If your goal is to put on weight and you’ve stagnated they’ll ask you how much you’re eating and then tell you to up your calories a bit - this isn’t rocket science.

Aside from that online forums are fun to discuss issues we enjoy… so I’d rather be on a site with heavy traffic and “meet” more people than to be part of an exclusive forum with a small membership… but that’s my preference.

3

Try these:

www.strengthcoach.com

www.ptonthenet.com

4

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

5

Get some anabolic-androgenic steroids ASAP.

6

I’m not into steroids.

7

you pay for a bodybuilding website membership?

8

This site has 10 years worth of information on it. I’m sure everything you need is here. There is no new ground breaking programs that have come out in this time either.

You could be on the best program in the world, but its useless unless you do everything you need to do. That’s the biggest factor, not the information.

Charles Poliquin is no doubt one of the highest regarded strength coaches. Read his articles and check out his books even.

9

[quote]chip douglas wrote:
I spent over two years as part of Will Brink’s private online forum–no doubt it’s a nice place, and the price is way reasonable for what you get there.

Are such paysite really that helpful, as opposed to a place like T-Nation where there seems to be a lot of free of charge info available ?
[/quote]

Is this a rhetorical question?

My guess is that there are very few on this site who would pay for such information when it’s offered for free here.

Then again, you’ve been there, so you should telling us.

Most people’s lack of success in the gym isn’t due to a lack of knowledge, it’s due to a lack of effort and/or will. This doesn’t mean that the science of training, nutrition, and supplementation isn’t an interesting topic worthy of discussion. You just need to decide if it’s worthy of the membership fee you’ve been paying.

10

Well yeah,

that’s why I made this post, to get some discussion going on this topic, although there’s probably not much to be said.

I used to pay for Will Brink’s private forum. It’s a nice place, but the reason why I didn’t renew is because T-Nation is free of charge, and so far as I can see (although I haven’t read much from this site)the information contained here is just as good. Only, it’s easier to seperate the wheat from the chaff on Will’s private forum, because the same questions you don’t see posted again and again, in order to keep things organized and neat.

Well, here’s what you get : http://www.bodybuildingrevealed.com/renewal.htm

I don’t think I’ll renew though, it’s only $34/year, but still, if I don’t need it then why shell out the money.

I’m already making decent progress, so this post of mine shouldn’t be miscontrued as a cry of help to rip me out of the hole :-), but like I said, I want to train with my head, if you know what I mean. Nutrition comes first and foremost, so I want the best advice and recipes, then regarding training methods, there are many and all probably are viable for a given length of time since we need to change them periodically. Then comes timing and manipulation of macronutrient, timing of supps, and picking supps that have decent science behind them, in order not to waste and time.

Anyway, I’m sure at this point, you can see what I’m driving at. I’m a detail freak, and know that up to a certain point details can make or break it for anyone with high perfermance standards…but it all depends of one’s goals too.

11

[quote]chip douglas wrote: I’m 36 and resumed weight lifting 4 months ago
[/quote]

Well this answered the question for me. Do you need to pay money for information if you haven’t even been training 2/3 of the year you were doing it?

12

[quote]Scott M wrote:
chip douglas wrote: I’m 36 and resumed weight lifting 4 months ago

Well this answered the question for me. Do you need to pay money for information if you haven’t even been training 2/3 of the year you were doing it? [/quote]

Well, it wasn’t very expensive, so I went for it. Also, my thinking was to go and get the theory first and then action. You probably wonder why at this point.

I did this, because years ago when I was lifting, I wasn’t doing it right, so I wanted to get the teory down before I’d start again. Having said that, I’m aware that very few do it this way.

13

Oh well, I wanted to get the theoretical aspect of lifting down, before I’d start again. I used to lift but didn’t do it right, so my reasoning was to learn how to train properly before I’d resume the activity.

Mind you, when I say I resumed lifting 4 months ago, it’s not exactly right : I resumed lifting 3 times a week 4 months ago, but before that period of time, I’d lift once a week.

Having said that, I’m aware that not many first hit the theoretical aspect of lifting for that long, but that’s cause I have a very busy life.

14

[quote]chip douglas wrote:
I’m aware that very few do it this way.

[/quote]

And there is good reason in my mind. There’s nothing wrong with learning but when it comes to something like this where nobody is positive what the best and perfect way… you learn a hell of a lot more straining under that last rep of squats or incline presses than you do while researching ANYTHING.

Nobody has ever gotten bigger from reading alone(except fatter)… a lot of people have gotten plenty big from lifting very hard who couldn’t tell you what the word hypertrophy means.

Research and learning is all well and good, I continue to do it and probably will for a very long time but you can bet that I’m not going to do it at the expense of being in the gym.

15

[quote]Scott M wrote:
chip douglas wrote:
I’m aware that very few do it this way.

And there is good reason in my mind. There’s nothing wrong with learning but when it comes to something like this where nobody is positive what the best and perfect way… you learn a hell of a lot more straining under that last rep of squats or incline presses than you do while researching ANYTHING.

Nobody has ever gotten bigger from reading alone(except fatter)… a lot of people have gotten plenty big from lifting very hard who couldn’t tell you what the word hypertrophy means.

Research and learning is all well and good, I continue to do it and probably will for a very long time but you can bet that I’m not going to do it at the expense of being in the gym. [/quote]

I understand what you’re saying–very true. I have strange ways to get to my goals sometimes, but I’m in the process of straigthening myself up on such issues, because I can wate terrible time.

16

That is the main issue here… time. A 17-21 year old kid can get away with spending 2 years of analysis paralysis because he’s still got the bulk of his best growth years(even if he wasted very good ones).

At 36 you don’t have that luxury in the least bit… if you are going to make yourself into the BBer that you hope you have to start today.

17

You would be far better off in designing your routine from these few articles, all by Christian Thib___ (manage to mess up the spelling every time when not referring to his name):

How to Design a Damn Good Program Parts 1 and 2

Pump Down the Volume

Training Roadmap

His entire newbie training and nutrition series.

That is ALL you need in my opinion. If someone can’t design a routine for themselves from those articles, I don’t know how they are going to learn to design one. They are the most well written program design articles for bodybuilding I have seen.

Berardi’s books - the one’s on diet design - are full repeats of his information on here and his website (FREE).

Nearly every book I have bought on training has been complete shit!

A great e-book is Tom Venuto’s Feed the Muscle Burn the Fat. I have it. That book is very complete. And …

It’s by a jacked guy himself who has competed. This may sound juvenile but its just my fucked up way of thinking. I wouldn’t join Will’s site because he ain’t jacked!

Babyish? Perhaps. Sensible? I think so. Why am I going to listen to what some guy is recommending if he ain’t jacked or never stepped on a stage?

Instead of racking your brain and your wallet, why not do what all successful bodybuilders do?

  • Design a split of 4 to 5 days to bring up weaknesses and that you can stick to secondary to your lifestyle.

  • Train each muscle once every 5 to 7 days.

  • 1 to 2 “big” exercises and 1 to 2 isolation exercises per muscle group.

  • 2 to 3 exercises for small muscles; 3 to 5 for big ones.

  • Pick the right exercises for your body type (leg press vs. squat; dumbbell bench press vs. barbell bench press, etc).

  • Train each 2 to 3 muscle groups at each session.

  • Follow a typical bodybuilder’s diet.

  • Take supplements that work.

  • Try to break records at every workout.

  • Make adjustments to your program as time goes according to your needs.

  • Train hard 4 to 6 weeks, hold back 1 to 2 weeks.

  • Take a week off every 8 to 12 weeks.

What else is there to do? Nothing! These are the only damn guidelines everyone is following. Always have; always will. I usually am not this sure of myself but I have yet to see a successful bodybuilder do anything different than what I just stated above. I mean NONE!

18

Pick up weight, lift weight, re-rack. Repeat!

19

It requires a little more design than that.

20

[quote]chip douglas wrote:
Scott M wrote:
chip douglas wrote: I’m 36 and resumed weight lifting 4 months ago

Well this answered the question for me. Do you need to pay money for information if you haven’t even been training 2/3 of the year you were doing it?

Well, it wasn’t very expensive, so I went for it. Also, my thinking was to go and get the theory first and then action. You probably wonder why at this point.

I did this, because years ago when I was lifting, I wasn’t doing it right, so I wanted to get the teory down before I’d start again. Having said that, I’m aware that very few do it this way.

[/quote]

Wow…what a pussy!

I, of course, mean that with the greatest respect. I mean, clearly someone who wants something really bad…will read about it for months or years without putting forth any action towards it. Clearly.