“How To Build A Classic Physique” is a muscle-building program based on old-school workout and nutritional strategies as used by trainers in an era before steroids were even invented.
What all these old-time guys had in common was a ripped physique that exhibited a lot of muscle with low body fat and strength levels to match, despite training and eating in a very different and simpler way than modern bodybuilders, and most importantly without steroids whatsoever.
Another common element of these old bodybuilders is that they performed all sorts of strength feats in an era when the line between bodybuilder, strongman, and circus performer was blurred, they knew about real-life strength while getting jacked as a bypass product.
Eugen Sandow in particular, besides being exceptionally strong and well built, strove for an ideal of classical beauty and Greek statue proportions. This approach coupled with his progressive training methods earned him the title of “father of bodybuilding”.
Matt Marshall’s “How To Build A Classic Physique” is a rediscovery journey into these long-forgotten training and nutritional methods organized into a viable manual the like of which has probably not been seen since that era.
This review will reveal to you what this muscle building program is all about and what it can do for you.
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Who Is This Plan For?
This is a muscle-building program for all those who experienced little or no results with modern training methods but still want to improve their physique without resorting to unhealthy short-cuts.
It is particularly suitable for hard-gainers or ectomorph guys, but also just about anyone who is not satisfied with his progression or is experiencing plateauing.
It is also ideal for people fed up with complicated workout schedules and meal planning and who wish they could find a simpler, natural, effective, and time-saving alternative to monster split routines and endless workouts in a gym that can only be effective for chemically-enhanced guys.
This is a program suitable for all those who staunchly refuse to give in to steroids just to make their pro-bodybuilder-like workouts effective and those who shun the grotesque, huge size achievable with these methods, but still want to get jacked in a lean and natural way.
It is a plan based on routines that worked back then as they work now simply because human physiology has not changed at all since then, despite all the training fads coming and going through the decades.
If you are looking for a simple, old-school muscle-building plan that works well now just as it worked in the past, “How To Build A Classic Physique” may be the right solution for you.
How Does It Work?
This is a plan that is the distillation of Matt Marshall’s effort and research on the topic of old school muscle building and strength.
You can tell that he went through considerable time sifting through the data of these long-forgotten training methods, as they are not mainstream at all today and difficult to get hold of and organize in a manual.
One typical difficulty when looking for training methods from bygone eras is that there is no much information readily available, being more like a niche, specialist endeavor.
But even when you do find information, more often than not all these old-time strongmen and bodybuilders employed different training techniques, some preferring single dumbbell work, others globe barbells, others various and ingenious techniques to prepare them for unusual strength feats.
There were no racks and plates to adjust on a barbell back then, everything was spartan and basic.
However, these guys still managed to achieve impressive strength records, even by today’s power-lifting standards, even though some of these moves are not applicable or in use anymore, like the bent press or the side press.
However, all these strong men did share some common traits in their training methods, which have been filtrated for “How To Build A Classic Physique”. For example:
They never did cardio despite having incredibly low body fat and displaying terrific six-pack abs.
They never performed crunches to strengthen their abs but used unconventional and effective techniques.
They did not eat six small meals per day as advocated by modern bodybuilding literature. Nutrition was a much simpler affair.
They used the most basic training tools, as you would expect from an era when commercial gyms and machines did not even exist. One such gear was a plumbing tool easily found in stores which helps you build strong arms.
Most workouts could be done totally equipment-free, as again you would expect from an age when barbells and dumbbells were hard to get hold of or very expensive and out of reach for most.
They also could drink some alcohol, in moderation, and were skipping meals on occasion, deliberately so (think of intermittent fasting).
A Simple Workout Method
These and many other such principles are contained in a viable format, a simple and straight to the point blueprint with all the workout and nutritional information taken from different sources, then tested, skimmed, and organized.
Since these methods belong to a distant era, it would take you months or even years before putting all the pieces of the puzzle together and use them with profit for your muscle-building goals. We must say that this program is as much a work of labor as it is time-saving.
In the end, the net result is a disarmingly simple method that makes a clean swipe of unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming workouts and meal plans that can only make sense for those on steroids or the unemployed.
Not only are the workouts simple and doable anywhere (though they require a lot of effort), no calorie counting is necessary for your nutrition. It could not get any simpler and more practical than this.
The “How To Build A Classic Physique” program is digital, you can access it immediately on your PC or smartphone with a download, is easy to read and can make your muscle-building life much easier and not an endless frustration.
On a side note, while the overall impression of the program is positive, there is a certain lack of testimonials, apart from the author himself, Matt Marshall, who showcases eagerly what he has achieved with his own training methods and, of course, the guys from the past, whose stained and yellowed pictures from a century ago or more still stand as valid testimony to the goodness of their workouts and food choices.
On the flip side, the program has not been around for long, so you could expect more testimonials to add up in the future.
The Creator Of “How To Build A Classic Physique”
Matt Marshall is a certified personal trainer and author of several fitness manuals on muscle building and fat loss, like the Underground Fat Loss Manual reviewed here.
He is not quite yet a big brand like BeachBody or anything like that, as his training and nutrition advice is underground and goes against mainstream literature, but he has his loyal following with a dedicated FaceBook page about his own brand, Fitness Under Oath.
He also runs his own blog fitnessunderoath.com, with contains interesting articles on old-school workout tricks and is a contributor to stack.com.
Overall, while he is not a big-name guy, at least not yet, his personality and training philosophy comes across as genuine and well-meaning. The workout and nutrition ideas he promotes are not for the big crowds but for those in the minority looking for a timeless recipe for natural muscle building in a healthy package, without steroids.
This is why he wrote “How To Build A Classic Physique”, as the training values contained in it are derived from a steroid-free era and are proved to work very well for natural bodybuilders, back then and now.
How To Build A Classic Physique Components
The program is a straight and simple digital download manual. No shipping required. The components are actually two as follows:
The”How To Build A Classic Physique” main manual – We are not to get fancy here with tons of different manuals and whatnot as you would normally find in other programs. Just a single, uncomplicated manual with all the workout and nutrition information you need to know because simple and effective workouts of old call for simple and practical theory as well. Job done.
The bonus “Voodoo Ab Secret” – This is an extra pamphlet containing the description of a very unusual ab exercise that can be done in just 11 seconds on a chair.
Matt Marshall’s How To Build A Classic Physique is really a one-of-a-kind program. It is a throwback to a clean era when aesthetics and healthy training were the norms, a time-machine to an age when the artificiality and cheating of steroids did not even exist.
It is also a wake-up call for a return to simplicity and common sense. Why on earth those long-forgotten workouts and nutritional strategies would not work today since human physiology and the way your body reacts to stimulus have not changed at all since then?
Sometimes humans like to over-complicate things, or make everything over the top and ultimately unsustainable. “How To Build A Classic Physique” is a return to the origins and an effective and solid workout, nutrition, and muscle building blueprint for all those fed-up with their current affairs and who want a breath of fresh air, away from insane routines, stagnation or even worse, steroids.
My name is Jay Fielding. I gained an interest in fitness since I was a child, and eventually developed my passion into a career path. I am now a Certified Personal Trainer with a natural ability to program customized body recomposition and motivate people in achieving their goals, be it gaining muscle or losing fat.
