International Bestseller!
The Only Guide You Will Ever Need to Build the Ultimate Physique!
The Muscle Ladder: Get Jacked Using Science is the best all-in-one science-based guide for building a strong and muscular physique. Jeff Nippard, professional natural bodybuilder and coach, has developed a clear blueprint for anyone at any level to achieve their fitness goals. Having architected tens of thousands of programs for athletes and gym-goers, Jeff possesses a mastery of the scientific mechanisms that will help you unlock your hypertrophic potential.
Jeff’s 12 ladder-style fundamentals are specifically designed so that you can work your way up confidently and quickly! Using a “rail” and “rung” format to define each fundamental, his model explains where to start, how to follow through, and how to apply each principle to your unique lifting goals. The Muscle Ladder is a cut above the rest, explaining not only the how but also the why behind each fundamental.
In addition to accessible-yet-comprehensive explanations, The Muscle Ladder provides sample training programs, a full section on techniques with corresponding visuals, along with a bonus chapter on nutrition and supplementation.
The Muscle Ladder includes
· 20 programs for all experience levels, from beginner to advanced
· Time-saving programs for those looking for quick and effective workouts
· Flexible workouts that can help you reach your goals in 2 days per week or up to 6 days per week based upon your schedule
· A chapter on nutrition, supplements, and cardio that gives you everything you need to achieve your goal physique
· Detailed photo demonstrations for more than 80 fundamental exercises
· Simple and practical explanations of science-based training principles
After reading The Muscle Ladder, you will
· Become your own fitness expert with Jeff’s easy-to-follow explanations of the science behind achieving gains.
· Discover what works best for you as Jeff guides you in prioritizing and customizing these principles to match your specific fitness goals.
· Build muscle and strength quickly and effectively!
· Master your diet with Jeff’s insights on nutrition, enabling you to create a flexible diet plan that enhances your workout results.
· Eliminate mistakes by learning how to identify and correct common errors, ensuring steady progress without setbacks.
· Access 20 complete training programs designed for various goals, experience levels, and schedules.
Amazing structure and the best book I've read in a while
If you’re looking for the holy grail of muscle growth, look no further than Jeff Nippard’s The Muscle Ladder! He takes complex science and distills it into easy-to-understand, actionable strategies. His book doesn’t just give you the theory—it provides practical tools and techniques you can implement immediately.
Not only have I applied these principles to myself, but I’ve also integrated them into my patient care with incredible results.
If you want a concise, science-backed roadmap to getting jacked, this is the book for you! Highly, highly recommend!
If you are an exercise science, kinesiologist, or even a personal trainer, you might not find as much useful knowledge since it covers standard information you already know. Still, you might refresh some of your knowledge or get some insight about how other good and efficient trainers are effective in their craft.
Because of that, I think I recommend the book to anyone regardless of expertise. You will either gain a ton of knowledge or some perspective on how someone like Jeff Nippard conducts their training.
However, if you dont have money to splurge and already have the knowledge and perspective, maybe pass on it and look for something more advanced. This book might be more of a novelty for you rather than something you'd benefit from.
Anyway the content is very solid. Nothing earth shattering and honestly and if you follow Jeff and are somewhat up to date on the field you aren't going to learn much of anything new.
Honestly my favorite chapters were the early chapters on habits and motivation. I feel like that is often overlooked aspect fitness that more folks need to hear.
A lot of the later chapters are just hitting the high points on the topic which Jeff admits. Clearly, entire books have been written on a lot of the stuff that Jeff is only able to touch like hydration, sleep, supplements, squat technique, periodization etc...
I'm torn on my rating as I think it might be the best book you could recommend to someone that was new to lifting but I don't think that is the audience and most beginners aren't going to be spending this much for a book.
There's always been a lot of noise out there when it comes to building muscle. Social media has only made this worse - fitness influencers want to stand out, so they'll try to convince us that they have the _one_ right method to building muscle, and that everyone else is wrong.
Fortunately, some really good research over the last few years has shed a light on what aspects of training and nutrition actually matter. In this book, Jeff does an excellent job of distilling that research into a set of practical guidelines that anyone can follow (with citations!). It's basically everything I wish I knew when I started lifting.
Some things that I particularly liked:
- The emphasis on flexibility: A big theme in this book is that in many cases, there's no one right way to do things. You can make progress on a 6-day split or a 2-day split. You can do 6 reps per set or you can do 20.
- The chapter on progressive overload: It's easy to interpret "progressive overload" as "add weight to the bar every week". But that's just one of several different strategies you can use. Jeff goes over nine of them.
- The chapter on nutrition/supplementation: There's only one chapter for this, but it still covers what really matters in the context of building muscle - things like calorie intake, protein intake, meal timing, and which supplements are actually effective. (Hint: the list does not include "test boosters")