Body by Science Anybody??
 

Hi,

I am fairly new to this forum. I used to work out 6 days a week - three days of weights and 3 days of cardio. It was insane. For the past 8 months I have not worked out at all due to health reasons but I am ready to start doing something again. The book "Body by Science" was mentioned on someone's journal on this forum. I was wondering if anybody is doing the recommended work out in the book (once a week) and actually seeing results. Reading the book, it all makes sense, but on the other hand, it seems too good to be true.

Would love any feedback/personal experience.

Thanks!!!!

~K

I've been doing a BBS style workout for several months and have seen some significant recomposition (more lean/less fat) and very large gains in strength. I wouldn't say it's magical for fat loss (you still need to work the diet) as I've lost a pants size since I started and still have plenty of fat to get rid of, but it's more effective than other regimens I've followed that take far more time and effort. I work out once a week for about 15 minutes. My gym log has details of my workouts. I haven't been keeping the gym log up to date on this site for lack of interest but the entries in there are representative of my ongoing progress.

Cool - thank you. I eat a zero carb diet so I'm good there. Haven't worked out since last year so this would be an increase for me. I plan on doing the big 5 recommended in the book - one set each.

I have been doing a version of this workout for about a couple of months now. I went into it simply because I just didn't have the time for 3 or 4 times a week workouts of 30 minutes or so. I figured I'd keep it up through the summer until my workload decreases. So far I am doing very well. I'm adding reps/weight on every exercise, every week which just astounds me.

I do a split routine as recommended by Mike Mentzner, legs and abs, arms and shoulders then back to legs/abs then finally chest and back with at least 4 days rest between each workout. Time wise it takes around 10 minutes for the entire workout!!!!!! The absolute key though is to push yourself like you wouldn't believe. No question, those ten minutes are seriously unpleasant.

I would definitely say the routine works very well for anyone that has a normal life and cannot commit the time to traditional regular workouts.

Thank you for the response. Just want to make sure I get this right. You do this:

Workout 1: Legs and abs
4 days rest
Workout 2: Arms and chest
4 days rest
Workout 3: Legs and abs
4 days rest
Workout ay 4: Back and chest
4 days rest
Start cycle over

Is that right? Either way, do you mind sharing which specific exercises you do?

Thanks!!

Arms and shoulders workout 2 so every muscle group is covered, but otherwise, you've got it.

I use machines mostly because Doug McGuff recommends it and also I workout at the gym on my own. When you go to absolute failure you don't want to be trapped under a heavy weight!!!!

The individual exercises are varied but include some pre exhaust. As said I'm on the Mike Mentzer starting routine as recommended in his book "High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer way"

It's a great, great book.

Another thing and this is weird. I used to do quite a bit of running but then stopped. I went for a run the other day after maybe two months and actually improved my performance!!!!

I guess my aerobic fitness is more than maintained with the super intensive but very short workouts. And my girlfriend say's I look more toned, with bigger muscles than ever, and I'm 50.

Hope that helps, but I think that so long as the principles of super high intense training for short periods with lots of rest and of course low carbing, then it will work very well indeed and is open to individual changes. I would say the Big Five workout could probably be just as good.

Oh that was a typo - it was supposed to be arms and shoulders. Thank you for the quick reply. I will check out that book. We have a home-gym so I am somewhat limited.

Any progress on your Body by Science experience?