Not having read the book myself, I cannot give a real book review but having been in the fitness industry for over TWO decades, I can give you my personal opinion. If what are you looking for is an in-depth, detailed book review, might I suggest Amazon.com as you'll find hundreds of people who have read and hopefully tried the program.

Bill Phillips took the world by storm in two instances.

First, he made supplements mainstream as Joe Weider did for bodybuilding. Good or bad, it is now part of the industry.

Second, he took the concept of "body transformation" to a new level. Making challenges for profit and fame, extremely popular. To this day, most every major site offers some type of body transformation style challenge, but Bill Phillips made it mainstream.

I've heard, the book itself is very good. As with any program, people get bored and look for something new but the concepts are valid and the intent to change yourself thru more than just exercise and nutrition is often overlooked. In this day and age, I think other programs are more valid but again, not having read or followed the Body by Life program, it's a bit biased of me to suggest such.

Small weight fluctuations from the time you go to bed to the time you wake up are not a sign of anything nor should you worry about them. Track your progress over a long period of time to determine your real progress. A person can fluctuate by ~5 lbs per day!

• Water
• Fecal matter
• Food

Weight isn’t relevant without a frame of reference. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Keep weekly weight measurements
2. Measure your body fat weekly
3. Determine your overall lean body mass and/or body fat composition changes

Over time, 4 weeks maybe, you’ll start to see what you are truly gaining.

Small changes in weight do happen on a daily basis. Weight yourself in the morning and then at night. You can see a significant change! It’s nothing but water, food, and other things that will again change.

By keeping track of weight and comparing that to your body composition, you will start to see what matters. Lean body mass increasing and body fat decreasing.

When in doubt, especially when it comes to your profession, do not take any substances that you are worried might come up on such a test. There's no way to give you an answer to this unless you knew specifically what substances were being tested for and if 1-Andro RX's ingredients would show up in such a test that would match a banned substance.

While it is a legal substance, that does not mean it will not flag for something depending on the test being administered. You have two options.

Option 1: Play it safe and don't dabble in something that could confuse the testing agency. Having an allergy pill show up and proving you are taking it is one thing. Having a supplement is entirely different.

Option 2: Ask the testing agency if they will test the substance for you in advance to ensure they approve of it. Ask them for procedures on what to do if you want to take a bodybuilding supplement that is legally available and you are concerned with it showing up on the tests they give. I would think any valid agency should be able to address your concerns. Get everything in writing (emails, etc) so that if there is a problem, you have documentation to prove you inquired about this long before the test and you have names and evidence to prove your point.

That's about the best answer I can give you. My advice is Option 1 as you don't want to jeopardize your job. However, it's within your rights to ask the agency such questions and get definitive answers from them well in advance.

Marc David
"The NoBull Muscle Guy"

Question:  How do I lose belly fat on my lower abs without losing muscle mass?

This is a very common question for both men and women, especially as they approach levels of leanness to where they can see a six pack emerge but now it's that last bit of stubborn bit of body fat.  The question then becomes, how do I lose that lower belly fat?

• More crunches?
• More cardio?
• Higher reps?
• Liposuction?

I thought it might be more informative to add my own answer along with 2 other fitness experts in the field.  Both Mike (male) and Stephanie (female) answered below.  Both of them have achieved phenomenal success in reaching low levels of body fat and have eliminated that lower belly fat without sacrificing muscle mass and undergone no surgery to do so!

You will notice an overlap in our answers.  It's not because we hopped on a conference call and got our stories straight.  It's because we all went thru the same frustrations and we all ended up with the same conclusions.  That's the real reason why we sound somewhat alike in our responses to a very common question.

Answer:  NoBull Author, Mike Boyle

"Since no one exercise will help you lose lower belly fat, I recommend HIIT cardio. HIIT cardio will help you burn fat while helping you maintain muscle mass. 2-3 HIIT cardio session per week along with following a high protein, moderate carb, low fat diet should help get rid of that unwanted fat. Lastly dont shy away from training heavy, going heavy on exercises like Squats and Deadlifts are going to help maintain the muscle mass you already have."

Answer:  Stefanie O’Donnell of CougarFitness.

"There are three tricks to losing body fat without losing muscle mass. The first is to burn off body fat slowly. When trying to simultaneously get rid of fat, while maintaining or even gaining muscle, the best approach is to zig zag your calories throughout the week. I would recommend a 20-30% deficit (from your maintenance calorie level) for three days in a row, followed by one to two days at 5-10% over your maintenance calories. The second trick is to keep your protein intake high (1.25-1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight) and spread your portions of protein out evenly over five or six meals. Lastly, heavy weight training is a must to spare muscle mass when dieting down. Limit your cardio to after lifting, or later in the day, but make sure to get in 30-45 minutes of cardio 5-6 days a week. Note: body fat will come off last where you put it on first, so you may get lean everywhere else first, but be patient, as belly fat too, will eventually be burned off."

Answer:  Marc David of BodybuildingSecretsLive

"As much as I'd like to add, these 2 beat me to it.  The belly fat is the last to come off in most cases.  Men typically store fat in the abdominal region and even if you get to 10% body fat which is lean, any fat you do have that is visible will probably be around your abs, specifically what appears to be the lower abs.  At this point, Zig-Zag nutrition (lower calorie days with maintenance calorie days) helps to keep your body guessing what's next.  Weight training is extremely important to ensure no muscle is lost.  You don't do this thru higher reps and lighter weight.  You keep pushing hard but with reduced calories.  Lowering your carbs (not zero carbs) will help to burn more fat.  You might have heard of carb cycling?  Protein intake should be high to ensure muscle is spared.  Cardio is a tool but will be used more frequently during times when you want to shed fat vs. just regular maintenance or for general fitness.  However, excessive cardio is not recommended as you don't want to go into too much of a deficit or hinder your ability to recover.  Stubborn belly fat is the last to go and there's really no secret.  It's where it gets REALLY hard to lose that bit of fat and it separates us from them (the really dedicated)."

Marc David – CPT
“The NoBull Muscle Guy”
Author of NoBull Bodybuilding

Question:

Dear Marc,

Thanks a lot from my end and on behalf of everyone who gets benefited by your advice.  I am very new to your website but found all your advice and writings to be very genuine, ethical, helpful and most importantly non commercialized.  I have started working out 2 weeks back. 

Can I train each muscles group twice or should I train them thrice a week?

My profession helps me with ample amount of time to workout and rest 6 days a week. I have also started a very nutritive diet but no supplement, everyday almost 600gm of chicken breast, 500ml low fat milk, brown rice, soybeans, oats, muesli, whole grains lentils and every possible food that can help me stay fit and grow muscles

I tried creatine powder of optimum nutrition but it was creating problem with my digestive system so I stopped within few days. 

I am 24yrs, 160lb. Will be really grateful to you if you can help me with a work routine.

Answer:

Thank you for the kind words!  I admit, I don't get enough positive feedback and at times, I am very uncertain if what I write gets to the right people.  You have reaffirmed that what I am trying to do, does help some and that has always been my goal.  I'm most appreciate of your thoughts and I'm very glad you found this website.

You've got a lot of "random" questions which I find very typical of beginners.  That's perfect!  I can help you out and point you to some resources I think you should read.

How often should you workout really depends on your time, your objectives and your ability to recover.  When I was 24, I could workout hard every day or almost every day and be recovered easily within a week.  I'm 39 as I type this and the thought of heavy lifting 5 days a week makes me shudder!  (said with a smile).  That being said, here's what I recommend.

• Experiment with 3 to 4 days a week of some type of full body routine before you start down the path of split routines and advanced bodybuilding concepts.  No matter your age or experience level, a good full body routine done 3 times a week to 4 can deliver amazing results.  Once you have done that, feel free to explore the world of bodybuilding.  At this time, I'm actually doing a modified split routine 3 days a week combined with full body TRX training.  My point is, there's many options.  I suggest starting off with a full body routine.
• Monitor your progress.  If you start to feel too tired, take it back a notch.  If you have the energy and your nutrition supports it, then workout more often.  You'll find that over time, that's going to change.

As a side note, I highly recommend you sign up for my NoBull Bodybuilding series which comes in e-mail lessons and includes a 19 Tips to Build Muscle ebook.  This was written with MANY of your questions in mind and I think it does a better job outlining each process than any blog can can ever do.  You'll get finer details into your questions along with a training routine you can use initially.

When it comes to the important of nutrition, you can't go wrong reading Why Nutrition is Important.  You'll get a very good overview of Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates and their roles in building muscle.  Absolutely a must-read.

Armed with that, you can find some healthy weight gain tips you will wan to follow to ensure you are packing on the good weight (muscle) while avoiding stuffing yourself, overeating and putting on excessive fat.

Regarding Creatine, that's a common problem if you end up using too much or not mixing it properly.  Give the How to Use Creatine section a quick glance.

When it comes to specific workout routines, you need to understand that ALL routines are "cookie cutter" until they are customized for you.  Short of personal training (interview the client, talk to the client, monitor the client, discuss progress or lack of progress, determine periodization methods) you will always be somewhat stuck with such routines.  Frankly, most will work for some of the time but then what?

My job is to try and educate YOU enough so that ultimately you can access your progress, make changes and find routines or adjust them to fit your needs, your goals, your schedule vs. dropping some program on you and letting it go at that.

I like to think of what I do as trying help you learn how to learn so you can make informed and productive choices over time.

This should be enough to get your creative juices flowing and probably stimulate more focused questions.  I'll be here when you need me.  Until then, any action is better than no action to keep in mind that you might feel frustrated and uncertain of what to do next.  The resources listed above will help.

Marc David – CPT
“The NoBull Muscle Guy”
Author of NoBull Bodybuilding

Question:

Hello, Marc.  I am very skinny, my age is 24 , and my height is 4' 9", and my weight is 39kg.  I want to gain my weight. I am worried about my health so much day by day. I'm losing weight... Please, help me and let me know how could i can gain my weight. Thank You.

Sundus 

Answer:

This is a subject that comes up so much on this blog, it's frustrating to both you and me.  I will be as brief as possible.

I want you to read a few blogs post that will help you gain weight.  The real reason most people struggle with weight gain is they do not eat enough, they eat the wrong foods and they eat inconsistently.  True weight gain comes from proper planning, over a longer period of time.  Stuffing yourself randomly, eating junk, not weight training are all ways to stay skinny and lead to a potentially unhealthy lifestyle.

Read These Blog Posts:

How to Gain Weight Quickly - 6 Steps

Help!  I'm skinny and I can't gain weight. (audio at the bottom of the blog post)

How to Gain Weight - Anthony Ellis eCourse

Just 3 blogs posts should put this into perspective for you.  I used to be skinny as well.  There was a reason for that.  I ate only until I was full.  I randomly engaged in weight training.  I did not eat consistently.  I was a very active kid (not a bad thing).  Over the years, I've been able to add weight slowly via muscle thru proper nutrition and focusing on weight training.

Please take a moment to read the links above as I think they will help you out as they have helped me.

Marc David – CPT
“The NoBull Muscle Guy”
Author of NoBull Bodybuilding

I disagree with putting such a broad goal into such a short time frame.  But here's my answer.. if you want to gain weight fast and take the most aggressive, easiest approach to that, I would try the concepts outlined in Carb Backloading.

While a traditional bodybuilding nutrition plan may be better long term, if you want to slam on weight fast, you need food and lots of it.  You can't be bogged down with all the sensible "eat clean" mentality.  You will find it takes quite some time to ramp up to the level of eating you'll need.

There's really no way to know how much weight you will gain in 15 days.  That's not a lot of time for anything to happen.  If you put 1 to 2 pounds a week, that would be significant and you can only hope at that rate, it's mostly muscle.

What you are looking for is a shortcut.  There are no such things in the world of fitness except drugs.  However, you can do different nutrition and training methods that work better for a specific goal.

Hence, my recommendation of Carb Back Loading.  It's by far the fastest method I've ever used to slam on weight.  I did keep the fat down below muscle gains.

Think of it as putting your foot to the floor when driving.  There's lots of drawbacks to that analogy but one thing's for sure, you will get to your destination faster if you know what you are doing.