Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

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Introduction
Building the Right Program for Your Needs
I wrote this book for four types of lifters:
• The ones who never fully achieved their newbie gains. They moved on to
advanced programs even though the basics were still working for them.
They still have lots of potential to gain strength and size by returning to
simple, progressive routines.
• The ones who maxed out their gains on beginner or intermediate programs
but continued doing them long after they stopped working.
• The ones who refuse to accept their bodies’ unique abilities and limitations.
They get hurt, recover, and then return to the exact same exercises and
techniques that caused the injury in the first place.
• The ones who took advantage of their newbie gains and learned from their
mistakes and injuries. They work out consistently and intelligently. But
they’re stuck in a cycle of gaining and losing the same 5 to 10 pounds (2.3
to 4.5 kg) of muscle and fat.
The last thing any of these lifters need is a book filled with random exercises to
plug into random programs. That’s why my book begins with a series of self-assessments,
including the functional strength standards, which I developed with
John Rusin. It’s probably a lot more detailed than any assessment you’ve seen or
used. But once you complete it, you’ll understand your strengths and weaknesses
and also have an accurate baseline for tracking your progress.
From there you’ll learn what to do with that information, choosing the right
program for your needs and goals. You’ll find guidance for building mass, getting
lean, and bringing up specific body parts.
The final two chapters cover nutrition and joint health—what you can do to get
leaner and more muscular now, and what you can do to stay that way for the rest
of your life. Talk to anyone who’s been lifting for two decades or more, and they’ll
tell you they wished they’d known more about these areas when they started.
No matter how long you’ve been lifting, whether it’s a few weeks or many
years, you’ll find in these pages a system that will help you get bigger, leaner,
and stronger—and stay healthy while you’re doing it.