Critique and praise of BtGB

[Kiyumars]

The day I read BtGB was the day I gave up all free weight training (except for deadlifts and heavy squats). I now train at least three times a week using the WOD on this site. The forum has been just as helpful as the book because of posters like Slizzardman and Blairbob. I have learned more here from this community then anywhere else.

I have read some criticisms against BtGB and even against Coach Sommer. I wanted to address these directly, and thereby show my appreciation. If this is unnecessary or incites too much negative discussion, then please delete it and tell me so.

The book costs too much.

This is an extreme manifestation of excessive entitlement that we regularly see in the internet age, where we get almost anything for free. For some people, it is not enough that a coach distills decades worth of knowledge into one book. It also has to come completely free. 30-44 dollars for the book may be a lot of money for young children and adoloscents, but it stands in no relation to the quality and quantity of information. Receiving this same information from a paid coach would take thousands of dollars and months (probably years) of your time, and that only works if the coach has the same level of experience as Sommer (and how many coaches are there like that?). That such a book exists at all is amazing, and I can't really put a price on this knowledge.

Coach Sommer screwed us over. BtGB does not include the content of Liquid Steel™, Dynamic Power, etc., but only tells us we need to buy these books later. And these books haven't even appeared after years of us waiting.

I encounter this criticism here and there on the internet. Coach probably could have saved himself some headache by not mentioning these later books at all. If he hadn't mentioned them, then people wouldn't have this weird idea that BtGB is "incomplete". I understood in my first reading of BtGB that the main purpose of the book was to show the reader the progressions necessary to master specific FSEs and FBE. The only reason why I believed that I can master these exercises is that Coach showed me the progressive steps to master these bodyweight exercises, something I have not encountered in any other exercise book or strength training program. While I too eagerly await the publication of the other books, including their content in BtGB would have made BtGB unreadable. So much content would only have overwhelmed me and confused me. Better to handle each subject seperately and in detail.

BtGB does not explain how to program your workouts.

I understand this criticism. The GB program is unusually complex and very difficult for a beginner to understand. We need to understand the function of an exercise (pressing, pulling etc), all the scaling and progressions, alternative exercises, correct form, pacing and repetitions, warmups, flexibility work, and SSC. It took months for me to understand what the WODs were about and how to scale them. I spent hours and days reading and rereading the forums to figure out what I was doing wrong. The section on programming was the main weakness of v.1 of BtGB, and I hope that v.2 addresses this. Nonetheless, the GB workout is simply more complex and difficult then almost any other type of strength training I have encountered. One book can't explain everything. If you are willing to spend time and effort, you can figure it out using the book and these forums.

[Vincent Stoyas]

Darn you, Danny. You should've put your last sentence first. I just read something you didn't even want me to bother reading...hahaha

[Ricky123]

As someone new to bodyweight training the books that have grabbed my attention based on what others have said are Convict Conditioning Paul Wade, Building The Gymnastic Body Coach Sommer,Never Gymless Ross Enamait and The Fundamentals of Bodyweight Strength Training Steven Low .

With respect to Coach Sommer some of the articles on how strong someone can get using bodyweight alone have been really interesting and informative to a novice like myself.I think anyone who has achieved what he has deserves a lot of respect and his book in my opinion is certainly worth buying

[Ricky123]

Good luck with your training.

thanks Daniel