My fitness failure and Built for Show a review of Nate Green’s book

My Previous Failure

Back when I started The Workout Blog in early 2009, I was slowly increasing my body weight from a low of 155 pounds; for a 6 foot tall guy 155 pounds is low, believe me.

I started to exercise, to watch my diet, and to document my progress. Change was slow but sure enough it happened; my body began responding well. I was surprised and excited. Finally, I thought.

I even started my 90 day challenge on this site, needless to say, something happened and I could never complete my challenge.

The highest I ever weighted, I think was 176, but as soon as I stopped watching my diet, eating whenever I felt like (as opposed to six times a day) and when I got really busy with work and school my weight went down again; but not as low as before.

A New Beginning

So, here I go again, trying to get things back in order. I have started a new workout program based on the book Built for Show by Nate Green.

The Built for Show Program:

• Has 36 weeks of workout routines
• Provides you with diet advice
• The program gets progressively more challenging
• Works for weight loss
• Works for weight gain
• The Built for Show Program’s goal is to get you looking good
• Focuses not only on looks, but also on strength
• Provides you with a sample menu
• The exercises are clearly explained
• The book has lots of pictures that show you how to do the exercises.

What I like about this Program:

All you need to start working on the program is in the book; you don’t need to be an expert to understand how your workout is going to be organized.

Also, on phase 1, you start with exercises that are very easy to do, so even if you are not very familiar with gym equipment, you can still do all these exercises.

The exercises on phase 1 of the program are:

Upper body: Wide grip cable row, dumb bell bench presses, underhand grip lat pull down, dumbbell shoulder press, reverse crunches and plank.

You will do these exercises for the duration of phase 1 (6 weeks) but the nice thing is that you will be switching the number of sets and reps every workout.

Lower body: Front squat, step ups, supine hip extensions, cable wood chop, and side planks. That’s it for lower body phase 1; again you do these for 6 weeks, but the number of sets and reps changes every workout.

There is also a phase 2 (different exercises) also for 6 weeks, after which you do what Nate calls the winter phase, followed by the spring phase, and summer.

This workout program (it’s a book) is probably the cheapest workout program you can get, for under $10 from Amazon. Check it out: Built for Show: Four Body-Changing Workouts

What I didn’t Like:

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to actually understand the table in the book which explains every workout (with exercises, sets, reps and rest all thrown together). I think this could have been presented in a clearer way so that you don’t spend any time trying to figure out how to read that table.

Other than that the book seems to make sense. I like the fact that Nate Green recognizes that to look good (make your muscles big) you must first make your muscles strong.

So, this is the program I am doing now. Grab your copy of Built for Show from Amazon, by following this link, they have the lowest price.

Are you also trying to transform your body? Be sure to check back soon, to see how my workout is going!