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Training for Appearance - Visual Impact

While we are on the subject of bodybuilding I thought I'd point you to a new book from Rusty of Fitness Blackbook. (Rusty was one of the top fitness bloggers mentioned in the popular blog Zen Habits recently and he referred to this blog as one of his sources of information and inspiration which was very nice of him. This is returning the favour!)

He has called the book Visual Impact . I have a copy and it is a good read and good value compared to some of the other stuff out there. The focus is very much on appearance - not the primal / evolutionary stuff I often feature. More of a "how to look like the guy off the front of Mens Fitness" and there are some interesting tips on diet to tweak appearance that I might try one day.

The style is a lot like Rusty's excellent FREE report - The Vacation Body Blueprint - that I mentioned before.

One of the things Rusty majors on in the book is the idea of avoiding building massive legs. After a basic level of development he would prefer you to focus on sprinting for legs with some deadlifts thrown in on occaision. His view is that massive legs are often unattractive and inconvenient.

I was thinking about this in the context of the video that I posted. While I think Rusty is right I wonder how much of the over the top leg development he refers to is actually due to drugs. Lots of the naturals in the video have normal athletic legs.
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Anonymous said…
This kinda reminds me of the novice female training syndrome, the "I don't want to get all big and muscular" concern - as if getting big and muscular were so very easy that anyone tossing around a pink db is in danger of walking out of the gym looking like Dorian Yates. I can't call a single non-drug-using trainee (and I've been in this game quite a while) who has ever had to back off from leg training because of *hypertrophy* in this region becoming a hindrance to performance (or looks for that matter). I am with Rusty though in that, properly performed and dosed, sprints and DLs would round out a perfectly sufficient lower body routine.
January 23, 2010 at 6:22 AM
Anonymous said…
Chris,

Thanks a bunch for the exposure. You didn't need to do that, but I appreciate it.

The book is doing really well. I have had a lot of positive feedback already. It isn't for everyone.

Just the sexy people :)

Kiddin'!

-Rusty
January 23, 2010 at 1:55 PM
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