The Muscle Ladder: Get Jacked Utilizing Science

Very Good Book
I preordered this book about 3 months ago after watching Jeff Nippard. I originally thought the book was at a pretty hefty price, as I had ordered the hardcover. After receiving the book, I realize why it cost so much, as it gives extremely detailed instructions and explanations for bodybuilders and people just looking to get in better shape. It gives you realistic expectations of how much progress you should be making within a certain period of time and also tells you how to remain consistent with weightlifting by having habits that can make weight lifting an enjoyable experience and something that you would want to continue with. There is simply so much in this book, as it gives you detailed technique checklists for over 50 exercises, encompassing most muscle groups with free weights, machines, and bodyweight. This book answers questions for all types of lifters, whether your relatively new to training, like me, or a more advanced lifter looking for more knowledge and how to progress and get through plateaus. it also gives you effective training plans based on how much time you want to spend in the gym or how advanced you are. I look forward to reading the book and incorporating the strategies to my own routine.

The best book on the scientific approach to build muscle.
I read a lot. I’ve read countless books about fitness. (I’ll not name them as not to disparaging any of them.) almost every single one I’ve read is just the authors approach on how they got fit. They try selling you the book, telling you yes, this is the book that will finally get you fit.The problem is, is every book is wildly different in how they approach fitness. A lot of them use old outdated “bro science” to substantiate their claims. Leading to sub-optimal hypertrophy. They make wild claims in their book that you’ll be a spitting image of captain america, or Thor.Ultimately, if you workout you’ll gain muscle. There is no cheat code (unless you want to risk the health consequences of steroids). That’s why I liked this book so much. The author Jeff never tries to sell you this book that in 60-90 days you’ll be jacked. He literally tells the honest to god truth. Which is extremely rare now a days.This book is written out in an amazing way. He literally walks you up “the muscle ladder.” So, if you literally know nothing about hypertrophy(muscle building) by the end of the book you’ll have an amazing knowledge on today’s current scientific data on hypertrophy.If your goal is to build muscle this book is a must have!The only complaint I have is that I think Jeff should have done the workout exercises in chapter 4 shirtless, and maybe used animations to highlight which muscles you’re trying to target. I struggled immensely when I first started with trying to figure out where to put the bar on my back for squats. I just could never figure out where to put it. Then one day I came across an animation with like a x-ray vision type animation of where to put the bar. It finally clicked.

Remember when you spent hundreds of dollars on “required” university/college textbooks and you got something that was often unreadable and largely not applicable to the courses you were taking? The cover was cheap, and the images were blurry stock photos from the 70’s? This is not one of those books.The book itself is very well manufactured; the cover is solid, the pages are thick and glossy, and the photos are clear. You could bring this thing with you to the gym, and it would stand up to being tossed around between exercises (you might get some looks though).The content is well laid out and Jeff even credits his dad with the idea of presenting the concepts as a ladder; that’s wholesome. You won’t be surprised to know that pretty much everything detailed in the book can be found in Jeff’s YouTube content, but there is something nice about having it all in one book. Maybe I’m just old, but I remember a time before YouTube when, if you wanted to learn something, you needed to read about it and you often only had one or two sources that you read over and over. Thankfully, this book is comprehensive enough to cover just about everything you need to know about hypertrophy training. Jeff makes a point to note that this is not a general fitness book, a diet book, or a book about specific sport training; it’s about muscle building. This book would be a great gift for someone looking to get into hypertrophy training.The training programs are presented in the same format as those that Jeff sells on his website. The only downsides here are you miss out on the video links and pre-made spreadsheets, which can be helpful when learning new exercises or reviewing technique.On a personal note, I got into hypertrophy training later in life after focusing on a variety of other physical activities outside of the gym and I have now successfully used a few of Jeff’s programs (Powerbuilding and Pure Bodybuilding) over the last 18 months to build significant muscle mass as well as strength. You certainly don’t need a book or specific program to build muscle, but I do think this book can help people effectively and efficiently build muscle, so you get more out of the time you spend in the gym.

Didn’t disappoint. Jeff always brings great and science backed information and this book is filled to the brim with them.