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Classic Body Now Review
Matt Marshall How to Build a Classic Physique
This book which is published by Fitness Under Oath was written by Matt Marshall who obviously did a lot of research and is something that he has done for years. It is a hard hitting book that will enlighten any reader about the misconceptions and incorrect nutrition and workout strategies we have all been doing for over 100 years.
Matt Marshall holds nothing back and starts the book off explaining why the majority of the population are soft, fat and weak. The irony is that these assertions come from not eating enough saturated fat in our diet. He explains this by demonstrating how the diet that our ancient ancestors ate has changed radically the last 200 years.
He quotes Walter Willett from Nutritional Epidemiology saying that our ancestors ate a very high-fat diet for 2 million years which suddenly changed 200 years ago when modern agriculture methods started producing carbohydrates in abundance. He then introducers the 4 primary cornerstones in creating a classic physique.
He explains these cornerstones in the order of priority that needs to be given when applying them to the eating and workout program to follow. The first and the most important is nutrition where he stresses the importance of eating like our ancestors did millions of years ago.
Eating saturated fat from natural sources like meat, butter, cheese and whole milk or raw milk with a moderate protein intake and limited carbohydrate intake is the simple key to success at losing weight and gaining muscle. But he goes into great detail explaining why he says that.
He calls any form as sugar an ultimate anti-nutrient where he then continues to explain that the increase in chronic illnesses like obesity, diabetes and heart disease is simply because the average person used to eat 4 pounds of sugar a year in 1905 and in 2014 the average person on earth eats 160 pounds of sugar a year.
He then gets bodybuilders and strength athletes who want to gain muscle eating lean protein only. He explains that eating MacDonald's burgers do not solve the problem as this meat comes from cows that are not grain-fed and this will dramatically change the Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids in the meat and make it a lot fattier than any regular grain-fed meat.
He talks about always eating the whole egg which is without a doubt the most digestible protein we can eat offering all of the 9 essential amino acids required for protein synthesis or muscle growth. The separation of the yolk to only eat egg-whites he says is short-sighted and not beneficial.
He talks at length about the advantages one gets from drinking unpasteurized raw milk for similar reasons. He then talks about the myth of eating fruit and the worse myth of drinking fruit juice. He uses the Eskimos as an example and they survive with normal body-fat readings when eating nothing but meat and fat.
However he does concede that eating fruit like berries which are lower in sugar than normal fruit and loaded with anti-oxidants. Another myth that he dispels is the alcohol myth saying that taking in a moderate amount of alcohol is now proven to be beneficial.
He does not recommend eating 6 or 7 times a day and advocates fasting for 24 to 48 hours at least once a week. He says that there is nothing wrong with only eating twice a day and that one should only eat four times a day if you are trying to bulk up and add muscle fast.
The advice that he gives about eating carbohydrates is to limit them to the bare minimum and eat plenty of vegetables. He specifically shows how eating fruit, whole grains, pastas, breads plus rice and cereals must be drastically cut down and even eliminated completely while always drinking plenty of water.
The book then gets deeper into achieving the objective of achieving the classic physique by going through what his definition of lifestyle is and how it needs to change so that you can teach yourself to sleep. He then goes into what he calls "The 10 Day Sleep Challenge" where all one needs to do is stop taking in any sugar and sleep 10 hours a day to gain muscle and lose fat.
Achieving the classic physique comes from following what our ancestors did a million years ago and that was a lifestyle of sleeping, walking, sunshine and meditation. He explains that sunshine is required for the body to be able to process vitamin D.
The book then goes onto the secrets to gaining strength and how the achievement of strength is the ultimate in achieving health and fitness. Using basic compound movements only training three times a week for 45 minutes to an hour even if is with your own bodyweight.
To increase strength using bodyweight can be done using simple sets of push-ups, squats and chin-ups along with some abs work and that is all that is required. He says the objective is to progressively increase the number of sets that you do and you will gain strength.
If you are training with weights at a gym or you have a home gym he recommends the following split into two different workouts trained three times a week on a cycle. The first workout A is done and then workout B and so on.
Workout A:
Barbell Squats: 3 X 8
Bench Press: 3 X 8
Dead lifts: 3 X 8.
Workout B:
Front Squats: 3 X 8
Overhead Presses: 3 X 8.
Chin-Ups or Barbell Rows: 3 sets to failure
This enlightening book then concludes with the last and the least important of the four cornerstones to achieving the classic physique and that is conditioning which is not just cardio. Conditioning can be done without ever doing cardio as it is something that can be achieved with training correctly.
This book is highly recommended for anyone who trains on a regular basis. It is life-changing and will certainly help you to achieve any specific objective that you might have. The book concludes with some expert advice on how to set your goals depending on what he own specific genetic capability is.