HARDGAINER magazine testimonials at Stuart McRobert's website.

Magazine testimonials

HARDGAINER is the greatest physical culture magazine in history.

— Bob Whelan

Whelan Strength Training
Washington, DC (for 22 years), and now at Fort Pierce, Florida, USA

Super magazine! One of the few training magazines that provides honest information for the average non-drug-using trainee.

— Bill Starr

Former strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA

The unique factor that differentiates HARDGAINER magazine, BRAWN, and Stuart’s other publications from the heap of usual photo-crammed, airbrushed, bottled-tan, supplement-catalogue magazines on the retail rack is FOCUS. I mean the deliberate, tight focus on a particular target population; specifically, the non-pharmaceutically-enhanced, genetically-average trainee desiring no less than the maximum realization of his or her inherent potential in muscular development, strength, health, and cardiorespiratory fitness. That’s it — a simple and straightforward mission statement, although prior to HARDGAINER, one that I personally had never encountered in 40 years of reading. With HG, QUALITY is the guide word.

Small in format, you say? Remove the advertisements, “photo shoots,” and pseudoscientific “research” from the bloated muscle magazines, and the usable information for the quintessential hard gainer would be a good deal less than he or she would find in HARDGAINER. HARDGAINER, unlike the other muscle mags, does not pretend to be all things to all people. But it is the linchpin, the keystone, the illuminated path, for drug-free, genetically-average trainees desiring the fulfillment of their physical potential while simultaneously enjoying a relatively balanced, rich and satisfying lifestyle.

— Rich Abbott, Santa Paula, CA, USA. 500-pound deadlifter at 65 years old and 164-pounds bodyweight

HARDGAINER provides serious training information for drug-free trainees — no sugar coating, just honest information.

— Ted Lambrinides, Ph.D.

Former editor, HARD TRAINING newsletter, Cincinnati, OH, USA

I guess I’m old enough now to talk about the “good ole days.” For me, the good ole days of my strength training youth occurred in the early 1990s when I was fortunate enough to stumble across HARDGAINER magazine. I was about 20 years old and had been doing just about everything wrong with my training. In a nutshell, I had been following the advice of the popular bodybuilding magazines of the time and had achieved very few results for my efforts. HARDGAINER set me straight in a hurry, with a formula for success that’s as relevant today as when Stuart introduced it over 20 years ago. He changed the focus from purely aesthetics to one that is easier to measure and more fun to pursue by introducing the 300/400/500 benchmarks for the squat, bench press, and deadlift.

By working toward achieving those numbers while also eating a healthy diet and not letting my body fat get out of control, I saw almost immediate improvement in my physique. What a concept! You mean, stronger muscles are actually bigger muscles? Wow! This was fun stuff. Needless to say, I was hooked, and for good reason . . . the training advice Stuart and his regular contributors offered worked. I found myself running to my mailbox in anticipation of each bimonthly issue, and not to make wholesale program changes as the muscle rags often advocated, but to reinforce the central theme of training on basic, compound movements with moderate to low volume and always with an eye toward adding more weight to the bar in good form.

Over the years I continued to progress with my training by working hard and consistently on simple programs. As my training weights climbed well beyond the 300/400/500 targets, I ventured into the sport of powerlifting and have competed successfully for nearly 20 years. On April 20, 2013, at age 43 and at a bodyweight of 216 pounds, I achieved my best powerlifting total to date—1,600 pounds—with a 600-pound squat, 380-pound bench press, and 620-pound deadlift. I made these lifts using no supportive gear other than a lifting belt.

I also evolved into my own version of the writers I so admired when I first picked up the magazine. I contributed about six articles in the late 1990s that remain some of my proudest accomplishments. Today, I write articles for other magazines and websites, and even coach at training clinics. It’s no exaggeration to say that the training success I enjoyed as a result of picking up that first copy of HARDGAINER helped shape my life. I had a burning desire as a little boy to be big and strong. I just didn’t know how to achieve this goal before HARDGAINER magazine.

I feel like Stuart let me in on a secret, and that it shouldn’t really be a secret. Everyone who wants to know how to transform their physique should have the knowledge to do so. I don’t know if HARDGAINER will do for you what it did for me, but I do know that if you consistently follow the advice on those pages you will be able to realize your potential for strength and muscle development.

— Chuck Miller, Hagerstown, Maryland, USA

For several decades, Stuart McRobert has been the most rational, articulate, and compassionate leader in the bodybuilding and strength-training field. HARDGAINER offers an inspiring account of that story, told in a warm, friendly style. It includes the works of renowned trainers, who were influenced by Stuart, as were the rest of us. HARDGAINER is about getting each of us better, safely, whether using basement gyms or modern palaces. Stuart’s editorials alone are worth the price of the publication. The recommendations made in HARDGAINER are as valid today as they were from its inaugural issue.

No other authority has had as much impact on my own results, or the way I thought about the processes of training. All of that was made possible by the way Stuart has led from the front, in his books and HARDGAINER.

— Arty Conliffe, Bronx, New York, USA

I received my first HARDGAINER magazines the other day. My first thought was, “Where are all the ads?” Not that I miss them. You know the ads. Today’s fitness mags are loaded with ads for every conceivable supplement, etc., but they don’t have much meat on the bone in terms of useful information.

HARDGAINER mag is something else. It’s loaded with real-life stuff. Every page contains useful and relevant information, cuts through the jargon, and is devoid of bs. The magazine is full of solid advice and real-life examples of everyday people working their asses off. HARDGAINER is the serious mag for serious training.

— Louis Tucci, Lodi, Jersey, USA

I subscribed to HARDGAINER when I was well into my journey as a strength trainee, and was most impressed right from the start. Lifting can be a lonely pursuit, and I felt a bond with many of the contributors. A core of strength coaches provide articles filled with useful information and guidance, handed down like from father to son.

HARDGAINER has no ego-filled hype, or commercialism. Instead, there’s wisdom, inspiration, helpfulness, humility and camaraderie throughout the magazine. And it has a respect for lifters who train for health, strength and vitality, rather than the extreme vanity that’s often the case today. And it has no time whatsoever for bodybuilding drugs.

Knowledge, simplicity, discipline and persistence are encouraged in the articles written by this wonderful group of lifters and bodybuilders, whose goal is to help others on their journey through the Iron Game. These qualities have inspired and helped me greatly—not just with my training, but in other areas of my life. I encourage anyone who’s interested in strength training and bodybuilding to read this fantastic magazine, and apply what it teaches. I certainly wish I had read HARDGAINER sooner.

— Brian Gibbons, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

HARDGAINER magazine was a game changer. For 15 years, bodybuilders and strength seekers were supplied with information everyone could benefit from: small people, big people, and everyone in between. Little was required other than a barbell, a steady supply of decent food, and a bed.

Before 1989, a steady, reliable source of information about barbell exercise didn’t exist. The closest thing was Peary Rader’s Iron Man, and even that mixed real pearls with odd pebbles. Peary’s stated intention was to offer the whole spectrum of advice. But Peary started publishing in the 1930s. By the 1960s, the period that another magazine termed “the Dianabol Decade,” it was possible for guys with the potential of Hercules to gain on routines nobody else could, now that they were on anabolic steroids—and ghost writers wrote up these routines and presented them as models for the rest of us. What it did, of course, was create a market for food supplements. From the 1960s to now, most bodybuilding magazines evolved into glorified supplement catalogues, selling pills that the bodybuilding stars didn’t even take. (They had what they needed in the needle they got stuck with.)

Stuart McRobert suffered a disappointment similar to mine in the 1980s, after following high-intensity training as it was presented by Arthur Jones. It didn’t seem to work, even if the theory made sense. Stuart’s conclusion was borne out in his workouts. Rather than taking every set to utter failure, he began borrowing from the wisdom not of the very strong guys who worked out in their garages and cellars all over the world. One of the most important notions he began to use was intensity cycling. And he gained!

I remember reading his articles in Iron Man in the early 1980s. I treasured my magazines and took very good care of them. Despite that care, I underlined and put check marks in the margins of Stuart’s articles. I’d never done that with any other bodybuilding writer, and I haven’t done it since. That’s the chord he struck with those first articles. But I wasn’t alone. Stuart found out after he began publishing HARDGAINER that people in nations all over the world recognized sound advice when they read it. I contributed some thoughts to the magazine over the years, along with five other bodybuilding magazines (and other publications).

HARDGAINER remains the only one of those magazines I would classify as vital for the non-drug-using weight trainee to possess: possess and read and go back to. I hope you send for them . . . and use them. As a bodybuilding resource, they’re pure gold.

— Steve Wedan, Franklin, Tennessee, USA

Your magazine is by far the greatest thing that has ever happened to my training. Words cannot express how important it has been to me. HARDGAINER is the greatest training resource anywhere! When I go to most gyms, I am usually the strongest guy there. I have you to thank for that. The group of writers in HARDGAINER are the best out there. If you want to get bigger and stronger, get this magazine.

Stuart, I would like to say thank you so much for all that you have done!

— Jeff Myers, Nashport, Ohio, USA

Years ago I was fortunate to discover an article in Ironman magazine, written by Stuart McRobert. At the end of the article he had an invitation to request a sample issue of a magazine he published called HARDGAINER. I sent in a request, along with a letter to him. And that request sparked a long-treasured friendship.

HARDGAINER was published with obvious passion for weight training and bodybuilding. But in that publication something was noticeably absent. And it was probably not something most devoted trainees would “miss.” There were no ads, there were no glossy photos of drug-built physiques, and there was certainly no hype. The information presented was simple, powerful and to the point. Exactly the type of training instruction I was searching for and wished I’d had access to when I started training as a teenager. I would have made much more progress, a whole lot faster, using the information in HARDGAINER, had I’d known much sooner about the principles the mag advocated.

Although Stuart stopped publishing the print version of HARDGAINER, the flipside for those reading this is that you now have the opportunity to make use of all the back issues of the magazine that helped countless people worldwide build strong, impressive, powerful physiques. And not only are the printed issues still available, but now there’s the reformatted, digital version that’s much cheaper and more convenient to obtain and read.

I discovered tons of training wisdom through the pages of HARDGAINER, and most of it I still incorporate into my training today. And not only that, I’ve passed that wisdom onto my children who’ve carved out great success stories with their efforts—better than I could have ever dreamed of before having found out about the HARDGAINER ways of training.

Fads and phases come and go, but there are many things that forever remain constant. And how to build solid muscle and power is one of those constants. I really can’t overemphasize the value of HARDGAINER, and if anyone ever asks me for advice on how to train and gain, I steer them to the magazine (as well as Stuart’s books). He’s laid out a rock-solid foundation of know-how in everything he’s published, but one of the greatest legacies he’s accomplished is the vault of knowledge stored away in the pages of HARDGAINER.

— John Leschinski, Connell, WA, USA

I have been a voracious reader of strength and bodybuilding publications over the last 25 years. I had at one time subscribed to seven different publications (and read far more). And out of all of them, HARDGAINER was my favorite. In it I’d find the most sensible training advice mixed with some very inspirational stuff. Reading about other trainees making success without drugs on abbreviated, yet intense, training just constantly fired me up. I couldn’t get enough of it. The issues came every two months and I couldn’t wait to rip open the packaging to start reading when they came in.

Recently I wanted to read them all again. I had lost a bunch of issues and had others damaged due to water damage in my basement. I was ecstatic to find that Stuart McRobert still had nearly mint issues of all of them. I ordered around 70 HG magazines just the other day. They came shipped expertly and I received them quickly (considering that they had to come air mail). And re-reading (or reading for the first time, in some cases) the magazines brought back great memories and has me anxious for my next workout. Anyone, and I mean anyone, would benefit from reading HG.

— Craig K. of Pittsburgh, PA, USA

If Harvard ever decides to create a department of “Muscle and Might,” the main source of material for its students would have to be HARDGAINER magazine. I have a degree in physiology, and another in physical education, but nothing I’ve learned is more in-depth for real-life application than the material one finds in HARDGAINER (and Stuart’s books).

In my experience as a gym owner and strength coach, one thing is clear. HARDGAINER is not for everyone. It’s only for those who are willing to think about training. Many people don’t think about their training. HARDGAINER would benefit them, of course, but it’s not for them because they aren’t ready for it yet. HARDGAINER is like the Karate master who will teach you only when you are ready to learn.

The arrival of my HARDGAINER subscription used to be a highlight of my life.

I run two commercial gyms. I’ve used the array of knowledge from different schools of thought found in HARDGAINER to build my client base of over 4,000 people over the last 10 years. In this day and age, in which real substance often ranks behind marketing trickery, it’s difficult to sell “what is true,” as opposed to “what is sensational and thus marketable.” My persistence to survive in the gym business is not without challenge. But I know why I survive amongst the 24-hour gyms, the ladies-only franchise, and the “no-deadlift-allowed” gyms: The instruction in HARDGAINER works!

— Victor Tang, Fitnessland Gym, Northcote, Victoria, Australia

HARDGAINER magazine is a marvelous resource for the average trainee not interested in using drugs or wasting years following unproductive programs. A practical, sensible methodology for gaining strength and muscle mass is detailed in this publication. The techniques presented here serve to help the trainee reduce the risk of injuries, maintain constant progress, and set sensible and achievable goals. This information will work for young trainees and the older trainee such as me. The active ingredient in most food supplements and over-promising programs is hype. You will not find hype in HARDGAINER magazine. Most weight-training programs that are offered by the latest internet gurus, often at great expense to users, appear to be repackaging of the knowledge found in HARDGAINER magazine. This publication contains effective material proven by decades of reader results.

— Shawn Bjerke, Fargo, ND, USA

I first became aware of HARDGAINER magazine after reading Stuart’s BEYOND BRAWN book. I sent for a free trial copy, and after reading it cover to cover numerous times I decided to take out a subscription.

What is it that I find so interesting about the magazine? Firstly, the advice in HARDGAINER is honest. There are no outlandish claims about gaining “20 pounds of muscle in a month” or “get a six-pack fast” like in the mainstream magazines. The articles and advice in HARDGAINER are aimed at the genetically-average, drug-free person, and come from some of the most knowledgeable coaches and strength-training devotees in the business. Let me be blunt here. You get bull-free advice that works, from guys who know what it takes for a hard gainer to reach his/her potential. You simply don’t get this elsewhere. Secondly, there’s no hidden agenda. The magazine is ad free (with the exception of the classified ads section). It’s refreshing to read a magazine that’s filled cover to cover with interesting and informative articles, rather than ads disguised as articles trying to sell the latest “wonder supplements.”

Finally, I like the fact that Stuart encourages the readers to submit an article. Everybody has a story to tell, a piece of advice, or encouraging words that can spur others on. You have a forum to share your stories with other like-minded people. I can’t make you subscribe to HARDGAINER, but I do suggest that you take the opportunity to get hold of a sample copy and check it out. If you’re truly committed to reaching your potential drug-free, then I feel that the magazine offers far more than anything you can find in your newsagents.

— Ian Gardiner, Isle of Wight, England

I am 55 years old and I have read at least 20 different bodybuilding magazines. HARDGAINER is easily the best. It focuses on the correct system for long-term gains. This magazine hits everything just right. You can count on it to give honest, realistic, effective and safe advice without pushing supplements or drugs. This is the magazine for you.

— Tom Fazzini, Loveland, Colorado, USA

I’ve now completed my collection of HARDGAINER magazine. The quantity of worthwhile information for genetically normal trainees (about 90% of the population) is without compare. Stuart and all the other contributing authors have been in the training trenches, have mostly been misled by the popular muscle media and the training methods of the champions (and all of their deception and lies), and through trial and error have discovered sensible training methods for the average- to hard-gaining individual. Each issue is full of essential and meaningful information and guidance.

Although the training methods vary somewhat from author to author, the fundamentals are common to all, as are the goals. The methods presented in each issue will help anyone to reach his or her potential in strength and physical development. And there’s plenty of attention given to development of robust health, flexibility, agility, training for the older trainee, and improvement of the mind—it’s a true journal of physical culture. Even though you modified or changed some of your views over the years, most of even the earliest articles still stand the test of time and are as useful and relevant today as when first written.

I would encourage anyone who wants the very best in training guidance and information to own the complete collection of HARDGAINER, and read them over and over again. Thank you for publishing the very best physical culture magazine of all time.

— Peter Yates, Huntington, New York, USA

HARDGAINER is a unique magazine written by and for drug-free trainees. Any drug-free trainee who has ever tried to follow one of the elite bodybuilders’ training programs will know that not only is it exhausting, you receive no gains despite all that hard work! HARDGAINER is written for strength trainees of average genetic make-up who want to gain strength and muscle without the use of drugs.

Since following the advice published in the magazine I’ve seen huge changes in my physique and have developed a program to suit my own ability to recover. Not only am I happier and more confident with my program, I can actual see it working!

The magazine is a delight to read. The articles within will tell you the truth (even if it hurts!) and exactly what you can expect realistically from your training. The routines and information are genuine and haven’t been corrupted by supplement companies trying to endorse their products. The articles are packed with information and cover a wide range of topics from nutrition, exercise technique, training routines and injury prevention; and they keep you motivated month after month to train hard. I thoroughly recommend this magazine.

— Rob Outram, Oxford, England

I started lifting weights in my mid 20’s, but I really had no idea what I was doing. Consequently, I made little progress and eventually lost interest. It wasn’t until my early 50’s that I decided to make a commitment to live a healthier lifestyle, and regular exercise was to become a part of it. These days, there is so much information about exercise that one has to be careful. I felt that at my age, and with my overall lack of conditioning, I needed to be cautious about my exercise regimen, to avoid injuring myself. That’s why I found the BRAWN and BEYOND BRAWN books, and HARDGAINER, so compelling. The information there is applicable to adults of all ages, not just youngsters.

Stuart McRobert’s whole approach to weight lifting addressed my goals and my concerns. The books discuss practical advice on how I should approach weight lifting to make gains and to prevent injury. HARDGAINER continues that discussion with articles written by many experts, and I can use that information and advice to build on my knowledge.

I’m now in my mid 50’s, and I have been putting this information into practice over the past year, and I am satisfied with the progress I have made. Using the concepts and advice I have learned from BRAWN, BEYOND BRAWN, and HARDGAINER, I have developed a weight lifting program that works best for me. As a result, I have made steady gains, and I now feel stronger and more confident in the gym. I look forward to making further gains in the coming year, and beyond.

— Jim Maioriello, New Jersey, USA

I’ve been training with weights since I was 19 years old. I’m now approaching my 39th birthday and I’m still training. Not only am I still training, but I’m bigger and stronger than I have ever been in my life, and “almost” injury free. I’m convinced that if I’d not have found HARDGAINER and Stuart’s books, I would not be training today. I was plagued with injuries based on the incredible misinformation that I found in the mainstream.

Several years ago I stumbled across an ad for a free issue of HARDGAINER. When I received the magazine I couldn’t believe or understand the information. It took me almost a year to cut my training back from four times a week to three. I was that brainwashed by the mainstream. Training too much is like an addiction. It was another year before I went to weight training twice a week. I kept cutting back and I kept gaining. The HARDGAINER formula was working, and I couldn’t believe it. The aches and pains were almost completely gone. And I actually had energy to do other things in my life.

My life is now not controlled by bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is now a hobby that enhances my life, not controls it. I want to look like I spend a lot of time in the gym without actually doing that. HARDGAINER has the right answers, though you may not want to hear them. I personally would love to have a one-on-one conversation with the big-name trainers about all the bodies they have actually harmed.

— Glenn Nielsen, Austin, TX, USA

I discovered HARDGAINER magazine in 1993 and immediately recognized that it’s packed with training advice that’s practical and effective for “normal” individuals. So I gradually purchased all 89 print issues.

Over the years I’ve regularly referred back to my HARDGAINER library for fresh training ideas and inspiration, and direction for staying on the path of “basics, ‘breviated and best.” I’ve found over the past 20 years that, as my training goals and needs have changed, by revisiting articles I discovered previously hidden gems that may not have clicked with me when I was in my twenties, but which make a whole lot of sense now.

I certainly appreciate the guidance HARDGAINER has given me over the past 20 years, and I unreservedly recommend the publication to others.

— Mat Spiteri, Springwood, New South Wales, Australia

When I started working out with weights in my youth, I was looking for training information. The only way for to get it was to buy muscle mags. After a while I knew every exercise that was performed by the current stars of the muscle scene. I knew every supplement available because the mags were full of advertisements. Along with that knowledge came despair, because with my minimal equipment in my home gym I could only perform some basic lifts, and I was not able to perform the machine exercises that were done by the muscle stars. I couldn’t afford supplements, because I wasn’t earning any money at the time. I worked out trying to mimic the workouts of the stars, with only minimal results. I didn’t think I could grow without machine exercises and without any supplements, so I quit.

Some years later, when I had monthly income, I could afford to work out in a gym and I could buy the supplements that were needed (I thought). But again, no big gains. Instead of that, I spent much time on working out and buying supplements. On top of that, I got a serious shoulder injury, from which I suffer until today. (I was performing dips in a manner that I was told from a muscle star.) One day I read an article by Stuart McRobert, and what he said sounded very good, logical, and was totally different from everything I’d ever read concerning working out with weights. I ordered my first issue of HARDGAINER and I discovered the real world. Here were all the answers I was looking for.

The information in HARDGAINER is from guys who have often decades of experience — guys who work as trainers, doctors and gym owners. The information is practical and useful. There are no advertisements for useless products. Every issue is packed full of practical information on exercises, program design, food, injury prevention and all the other important factors for a successful training life. Today I know why I damaged my shoulder, and why I wasn`t gaining in the past. Today I know that I wasted my best years, during my youth, and a lot of time and money. If I had the information back then that HARDGAINER gives, I would have saved all that waste. Today, 30 kilos [65 pounds] heavier and much stronger, I’m working out at home again, with just the basic equipment, with just the basic exercises, and I’m feeling fine.

— Robin Dirksmeier, Geseke, Germany

I’ve tried many weight training programs over the years, trying to get the muscular physique I’ve always wanted. Very few people were as dedicated to the cause as I was. For example, following what the mainstream called a “for sure” program, I trained six days a week for about 1-1/2 hours each workout. That’s nine hours per week! I took the supplements recommended as well. I was excited because I couldn’t go wrong this time. I was destined for some serious muscle! I followed this program as if it was my religion — for about six months. What were the results? After the program, my bodyweight increased by a full zero pounds. Totally nothing! Do you know how disappointing it was to have put so much time and energy into something that was supposedly guaranteed to work, only to see no fulfilment of what was promised? Perhaps you do. Perhaps you were given promises as well that were never fulfiled. Well, today I’m 25 pounds heavier, most of it muscle. I even had to get a new wardrobe. What contributed to that growth?

It all started when I sent away for a free issue of HARDGAINER. It was then that I learned the real reason why I couldn’t gain on any of my past programs. I followed one of the programs in HARDGAINER which took a fraction of the time the other ones did — less than two hours per WEEK. The program seemed ludicrous at first. Today, by following the basic principles I’ve learned, I’m still making progress.

HARDGAINER will teach you what really works, and how to apply it in your workout. I look forward to every issue, knowing that it will add to my knowledge, resulting in building some more muscle. I’ve actually saved money since HARDGAINER taught me that most supplements are not necessary, and a waste of money. If you’re serious about putting on muscle, don’t waste years of valuable time finding this out the hard way. HARDGAINER is the only magazine that will put you in touch with what really works! I’m living proof of that!

— Sam Nothman, Milford, MI, USA

I first sent away for McRobert’s book BRAWN about seven or eight years ago, and I was right away taken by his honesty. It was not long after, that I sent away for HARDGAINER mag to see if it was anything like the book McRobert had written. The mag has not been a disappointment because the writers in the mag all give the same honest, straightforward advice. HARDGAINER doesn’t try to sell me any supplements. I found articles that had routines which even a home trainee in a small apartment or room can use. I liked the fact that in HARDGAINER the writers know it’s not necessary to train in the gym for hours on end.

— Jim Ryan, Brockville, ON, Canada

I’m in the military, and everywhere I go, exercising is a big deal. I hear all the time how, in order to “get big,” or “get hard,” you have to take all kinds of supplements and train every day. It’s all just a scam for supplement companies to make as much money as they can. Many of the supplements they talk about are hot for a while, and then disappear.

Everything I’ve read in CS Publishing’s books is followed up and proven in the HARDGAINER. I don’t want a magazine that has little but ads about the products that support the magazine itself. I don’t want a magazine that tells me that I need to not only purchase the magazine itself but also hundreds of dollars of supplements to go with it. I need a magazine that is to the point, tells it like it is, and is free of crap—HARDGAINER.

— Ken Holt, Ft. Bragg, NC, USA

There are 89 issues of HARDGAINER magazine. Within their pages is a wealth of wisdom on how to train effectively and creatively. The articles are not just written by fitness industry professionals, doctors, bodybuilders, and competitive lifters. Many of the articles are written by individuals that have bad genetics, physical disabilities, and no desire whatsoever to compete. They just want improved size, strength, and health. They are people that have been on a journey through the nightmare of the fitness industry, wasted years of their lives and thousands of dollars, and then discovered HARDGAINER magazine and Stuart’s books.

Those discoveries led to their minds being deprogrammed and transformed. This allowed them to take a more balanced, healthy, and less obsessive approach to their training. And this is what led to their great progress. They are reaching out to you personally. They want you to become a success story. This is one of the elements that make HARDGAINER magazine very unique. You usually do not see these honest personal stories in the ridiculous glossy magazines you find at the newsstands and stores.

My HARDGAINER collection is one of my most cherished possessions. Whenever I need inspiration, new ideas, or a reminder to not follow the herd and slip back into old habits of overtraining and dangerous techniques, HARDGAINER is there. There are several issues that changed my life. Of course, the magazine made my training more effective, but I am also a better guitarist and teacher because of some of the critical thinking skills I learned that have manifested in every aspect of my life. In addition to Stuart, some of my favorite authors are Christian Temple, Dave Maurice and Rich Rydin. They imparted eternal principles in a short, easy-to-digest context.

You might be wondering if reading articles from a few years ago is a good idea. You might be obsessed with only having the latest training ideas coming from “up to date, cutting edge research.” That misconception is what leads so many astray, and leaves them vulnerable to all the nonsense out there posing as “science.” Stuart’s books and magazine pull back the curtain and let you see “the man behind the controls.” Once your illusions have been destroyed, and you understand the basic principles of how to train effectively, you will be immune to all the absurdity. At that point you can experience the joy of gaining while spending a minimal amount of time in the gym.

Within the pages of HARDGAINER there are also many great articles on the history of weight training, and some of the personalities that have shaped how we all train today. Once you see how people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries achieved great physiques and amazing strength using limited equipment, no supplements, (and, of course, no steroids), you will be unfazed when someone tries to sell you on a trendy new approach using marketing buzzwords. You can just laugh and go about your training.

If you would like some guides to lead you out of the confusion and deception of the fitness industry, and into the mythical land of efficient, common-sense training, then order some issues of HARDGAINER. It is the greatest training magazine ever! A world of insight awaits you.

— Greg Vaughan, Temple of the Sacred String, San Diego, California, USA

I’m the founder and president of the Gibraltar Natural Bodybuilding Championship, and the founder and president of the Gibraltar Natural Strongman & Strongwoman Championships. During the first few years of my training I used to fail all the time. Then once I started following the guidance in HARDGAINER magazine, and the books BRAWN and BEYOND BRAWN, it made it all happen for me. I’m now getting ready for a natural bodybuilding championship.

— Shane Smith, Gibraltar (Europe)

HARDGAINER is basically a huge book broken down into 89 chapters, to yield a comprehensive library of all bodybuilding topics. It has training information only from the real world, beyond the distortion created by the most popular bodybuilding magazines. It covers everything about intensive and abridged training, and how to become stronger and grow bigger muscles. And it has detailed answers to questions for which one searches in vain in most of the forums or popular magazines. But it has no advertising for food supplements.

Exemplary coaches present their own interpretations of the HARDGAINER approach, to provide readers with many ideas and suggestions to apply to their own training. The combination of HARDGAINER magazine and Stuart’s books offers an exhaustive guide for those who have found out that their path to success in bodybuilding is outside of the high-frequency, high-volume and multi-split-routines approach to training. This guide is everything you really need!

— Sebastian Braumann, Mannheim, Germany

After reading Stuart’s classic bodybuilding book BEYOND BRAWN I finally came around to seeing the big picture and fully understanding the principles of productive weight training. Up until that point I was your average fitness enthusiast regularly scouring the internet for the newest “magic” muscle-building routines, and constantly under the impression that successful lifters were in possession of some little-known “secrets” that had somehow eluded me.

So, when I finally understood that I was just being duped by the myriad fitness products and sales pages out there, I decided to stop reading marketing-filled literature and instead find a new source that is honest to its customers, provides real-world success stories and practical training information, and skips all the fluff and gimmicks associated with the fitness industry.

Stuart’s HARDGAINER collection is exactly what I was looking for. Over the course of several months I purchased the entire collection, and it turned out to be the single best training-related investment I ever made.

Imagine having at your disposal a benevolent trainer who always gives you the truth straight up with no sugar-coating, steers you in the right direction when you stray off course, constantly motivates you to push to your limits, fires you up like nothing else, and fuels your desire to become the best you can be. Now, multiply that a hundred times, and you’ll get an idea what HARDGAINER is all about.

If you’re looking for tools to help you succeed in the Iron Game, you’ll be hard pressed to find any that are as useful, honest and filled to the brim with practical knowledge as HARDGAINER magazine is, and without any hidden agendas.

— Emanuel Mihaiescu, Timisoara, Romania

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