(Spanish Version, French Version)

PROS

CONS

If you’re too busy to read my full review below, you can go straight to the >>> official website <<< to see if you want to change your life and if this program is the way to go for you. If you go ahead with this program, congrats – just picture yourself a couple of months from now – lean, fit, healthy, sexy. Wow. By the way, they also have a Spanish version and a French version. I’m working on getting you the link to the German version as well; stay tuned for that one.

Let’s now take a real close look at the program. Make no mistake, there are a lot of weight loss and exercise programs out there. In no way am I pretending the following one here is the holy grail and only one there is. This wouldn’t do all of the good work others have done in this field justice. However, there are also a lot of crappy programs out there that you should not waste your time with.

I picked this program for the following reasons:

• It’s been around for a while.

• I know it really works.

• It’s one of the easiest ones I’ve seen to follow. Clear workout and meal plans.

• I was skeptical when I first heard about this program. Maybe just like you right now.

• There’s been a lot of good feedback on this program.

• It has a lot of common sense elements to it and so all of it sounds reasonable.

• It does not require you to have or get more equipment than a pair of dumbbells, maybe barbells and maybe an optional exercise bench (if you’re going to a gym that has that you can even save the money for all of this).

• It was designed for the over-35 trainee in mind (although younger folks benefit from it as well).

• It does not require you to spend all your day in the gym while only eating cottage cheese and chicken without any seasoning all day every day. 🙂

There is only one thing that I do slightly differently – and that is on the cardio side  where I run more than what’s necessary per the program (which is basically no running). Well, I’m not a specialist with a college degree in this field, obviously – more on the cardio part later. I guess with any program you’ll find that there are certain pieces that you end up doing slightly differently or not at all. All normal.

Alright, now let’s take an honest, no BS look at Old School New Body.

The main vehicle of the program is a solid 101 page manual that, at its core, aims at helping you to look and feel better by providing you with dieting and workout strategies and tips based on what they call the F4X System – which stands for “Focus 4 Exercise”. I guess any program needs a fancy name. That’s alright. 🙂 It targets the following main areas: physical transformation, anti aging and hormonal balance. That’s fancy for: Look and feel better and younger.

The pros behind this program are these guys here:

– Steve Holman, Editor and Chief of Iron Man Magazine

– Becky Holman, Steve’s wife and a contributor to Iron Man Magazine

– John Rowley, an author, speaker and media contributor

I guess that makes sense. I can see Steve and Becky having the idea for a program and then wondering what media specialist they can add to the mix to put it on paper. Fair enough. Dang, just looking at those guys makes me want to lift a few weights right now.
They give us hope, don’t they? They’re living proof that their program works well for folks that crossed the 40 yard line. 🙂 Of course, one could argue that they achieved those looks by not following their own program but some other fitness dude’s which would be ridiculous. To me, those guys are authentic as can be. I mean, Steve is known in the fitness and bodybuilding scene and has an excellent reputation. Let’s find out more about them. According to their bio, Steve and Becky have been married for 27 years. Steve started weight training at 15 as a skinny 119-pounder and has been training ever since (more than 35 years). Becky has been working out on and off for more than 20 years, but she lapsed in her 30s while raising her two daughters. Who wouldn’t. In her 40s, she became fed up with her overweight appearance and made a radical physical transformation in only a few months. She is now a regular contributor of nutrition-based items to IRON MAN magazine, and Steve has been IRON MAN’s Editor in Chief for more than 25 years. He has written more than 20 books on bodybuilding, weight training and nutrition and has also penned hundreds of articles on building muscle and burning fat. His blog, “Built for Life,” is at IronManMagazine.com. Steve has also interviewed many legendary physique stars, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cory Everson, Tom Platz and Lee Labrada. His bodybuilding e-books are available at X-Rep.com and X-traordinaryWorkouts.com.

The program is pretty unique in that it is based on both science and a proven training method that was once invented by past legendary Hollywood trainer Vince Gironda. The story, according to the authors, is that they rediscovered this training method and then basically revised it a bit based on their own experience and recent science. You can read up on all the details in the manual. I must say the story reads a bit like a Goonies-type adventure (I won’t spoil it here) but I have to assume those events did take place that way. It’s a remarkable story for sure. If the program and manual have one weak spot when it comes to the writing itself, then it is this introductory section in my opinion. I struggled a bit trying to follow who played what role there. Maybe that’s just me. Or could be that the authors were still warming up during that section 😉 as all subsequent chapters were really easy to follow and understand. Before we move on though, let’s take a quick look at this legendary Vince Gironda. Even if his physique is not 100% your goal, I’d say I trust a dude and his training method if he was able to turn his body into such a piece of art. Wouldn’t you, too? 🙂

Let’s go back to the F4X System – that is the term that the authors coined to describe their formula or approach to things: The whole training method focuses on intensity. But not in a way that they would want you to lift the heaviest weights in the gym that’ll break your joints. Nah, that’s actually the mistake a lot of folks make. If you’ve been to a gym, I’m sure you’ve seen those people – there’s usually two types: The ones that hang around there forever using very light weights taking looooong breaks without doing anything (maybe chatting, yeah) and then there are the ones using way too heavy weights that make them scream each time they push or pull the weights. Oftentimes, that goes hand in hand with wrong posture and so on. Anyway, while the folks using the light weights at least don’t accomplish anything, the folks with the too heavy weights unfortunately hurt their joints and whole body as, like the authors say, this can even damage your immune system because of excess stress hormone release (cortisol). This is  where this program shines: Since Steve and Becky are in their mid-50s themselves, the authors designed this program specifically with the over-35 trainee in mind. It was super important to them to make sure anyone older than 35 would not mess up their joints, muscles and bones. The way they achieve this is in very general terms by focusing on exercises with lighter weights for more sets with just minimal breaks in between.

The way Old School New Body approaches this is to make you put in the work that is necessary without using the lightest weights or hanging around in the gym or wherever you do your exercise forever while not killing and overstressing yourself and your body with weights that are too heavy and while not making you work out for long periods of time (which is good because our calendars are busy anyway, aren’t they).

So here’s the deal: The program calls for moderate weight exercises (not too heavy) and only short rests between sets which creates an intensity that leads to high muscle fatigue and growth hormone release. Makes sense: Weights not too heavy, short breaks, high intensity, muscle growth. This mixture triggers a veritable muscle-building, fat-burning (and anti-aging) cascade. While the growth hormone which boosts your ability to build lean muscle and burn that ugly body fat decreases significantly as you get older, this type of training can provide a real resurgence. In short, you can get in the best shape of your life, turn back the clock on aging all while strengthening your muscles, ligaments and joints.

And on the nutrition side, the program provides you with clear guidance on what, how and how often to eat while not making you feel like you’re starving and while still being able to eat and drink things that are yummy. See details on that below. One thing’s for sure: It’s not one of those programs telling you to stop eating and drinking all yummy things and to live on cottage cheese. Phew. I could never not do one of those.

Here’s that common sense thing I mentioned before. It all sounds super simple. Almost too simple to be true. But the fact is that this program is getting the results it promises. A few adjustments to your diet and a couple of workouts per week make all the difference. Super cool.

The authors summarized above points in 3 workout phases with increasing intensity:

 Let’s explore the program a bit further.

The 101-page manual comes with 14 packed chapters on topics focusing on workout and nutrition / diet with deep dives into joint pain, motivation, etc.

Overall, the manual is well-written and in a pleasant conversational tone. Reading it really felt like a good friend giving me advice.
The introduction I mentioned above to me seems to be the weakest part. Maybe it’s me but I struggled a bit following what role the different players involved played related to (re)discovering the program. It could be that this section was a bit rushed. Or, again, it’s just me. It doesn’t really matter as the very important information that will change your life follows in subsequent chapters. And I found all of those very easy to follow and understand.
The only other observation I can share with regard to stylistic subtleties is that the authors introduced abbreviations for hormones in a bit of an unorthodox way assuming the reader knows or is able to follow what they mean. Whenever you introduce an abbreviation, you normally put that right after the term you use it for when you use the abbreviation for the first time. An example from the manual would be “Growth Hormone”. You would write “Growth Hormone (GH)”. What these guys did is write “Growth Hormone” in one sentence and then in the next sentence use the abbreviation “GH” out of nowhere. At first, you wonder if that “GH” stands for “Growth Hormone”. No big deal as it’s kind of obvious but it’s something that causes you to think for a few seconds and takes away from the flow when you’re reading the manual. I think it’s natural for the authors to use the abbreviations for hormones in such a way as they are very familiar with those terms and those abbreviations are also well known – especially by people who are familiar with fitness and nutrition.
Here’s another minor observation that seems to be recurring across many fitness or bodybuilding books – I also struggled with that when reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding”: It’s always a back and forth between reading a workout plan and then jumping back or forth a few pages to see the explanation for the exercise(s) mentioned in the workout plan. Like “what were dumbbell upright rows again?”. 🙂 No need to be concerned though – after a few days of exercising, you will know every workout / exercise and you won’t even have to look them up anymore.

One of the hooks during the introductory pages is the claim that the program will make you look younger. I’m always skeptical when I read such bold claims but the authors do a good job explaining what they mean and I can relate to that. Of course, no fitness program is a time machine that lets you turn 40 if you’re 50 or something like that. But the simple truth is that if you’re in a good shape and active thanks to your workout program and diet plan, you can look and feel younger and sort of slow the aging process. You can look like a 40 year old or even better than a lot of 40 year olds that don’t work out and don’t eat well. I’ve been there. When I was overweight, I looked older and dressed older. But after losing weight and starting to exercise on a daily basis, my energy levels went up, I quit wearing oversized sweatshirts to hide my body and basically looked and felt younger. So in addition to already looking younger, the program is designed so that is slows the aging process through its combination of workout routines and diet plans.

The manual explains the medical background regarding turning fat into muscle in easy to understand ways. I’m not saying the terms are easy to understand – how bout “myofibril strands” and “sarcoplasm” but the guys explain it in a way I was able to understand. 😉 I’m not going into details here as the manual describes well how the exercise pattern triggers both muscle growth and fat loss: 30-45 minute workouts, about 10 minutes per body part, 4 sets per exercise with 30-40 seconds rest between the sets. They want you to do only 2 sets with longer rest periods when you’re starting out, by the way. Makes sense.

There are 3 different primary workouts which allow you to start with the lighter “LEAN” one and then graduate to something more extensive like the “SHAPE” or “All-Dumbbell” one. I like that as it lowers the bar for the entry a bit and doesn’t overwhelm you with too much for you to handle. To me, the BUILD one is  the “post graduation” course that will then take you to a whole new level – talking hot muscles here. 😉

• F4X LEAN Workout

  • 3 different workout patterns, 4 exercises per workout

  • Ideal for home, only dumbbells needed
    (barbells and exercise bench optional but recommended)

• F4X SHAPE Workout

  • 3 different workout patterns, 8-9 exercises per workout

  • Requires some gym equipment / achines,
    rest is for dumbbells (barbells optional)

• F4X All-Dumbbell Workout

  • 3 different workout patterns, 8-9 exercises per workout

  • Ideal for home, only dumbbells needed
    (exercise bench optional but recommended)

• F4X BUILD

  • 4 different workout patterns, 9-13 exercises per workout

  • Can be done at home but ideally combined with the gym
    (exercise bench, dumbbells and barbells recommended)

The guys state that you can get started even if you don’t have dumbbells and an exercise bench but they recommend that you should eventually get those and I fully agree with that. The dumbbells are really the minimum equipment you need on your journey. They’re not expensive, no big deal.

I recommend going for the 60 pounds dumbbells set so you have enough weights to work with once you make it to the more advanced stages of your workout. And you can always get more weights later. I’ve had a set of simple dumbbells for many years and I not only use them at home but I also bring them on camping trips and other road trips. Alright, dumbbells – very important. You can definitely get a set of barbells, too, but for the start I think you’re fine with a decent set of dumbbells. What’s very good to have is a weight bench / exercise bench. I hesitated for some time before I bought one. Now that I have it, I know what I’ve missed all this time. I love it and can’t imagine doing weight exercises without it anymore. If you want to get going without this investment at this early stage, that’s alright, don’t worry. You’ll be able to accomplish your first goals without one as well. But at some point, you should probably get one. Again, please note that this item here is really optional. Almost everyone starts out without their own bench. If you can go to a gym, even better. They usually have lots and lots of benches that are waiting for you. 🙂

All exercises are explained with drawn images. I think they are clear enough – along with their accompanying text – to understand what the exercise is and how it needs to be done. But based on experience, maybe I’m just too slow 😉 – you’ll probably find yourself in a situation where you’re feeling like a video would be helpful. Maybe you’re not sure about the end to end movement for a particular exercise and you don’t want to do anything wrong. You can either get additional material like videos that the authors offer or you check out YouTube or some other source for the exercise(s) you’re looking for and I’m sure someone there has already recorded exactly what you’re looking for.

I tried all of the above and tend to focus on the SHAPE and BUILD workouts given I’ve been exercising regularly for a couple of years now. Where I do things slightly differently is when it comes to cardio. I agree with the authors that only cardio (running and stuff) without lifting weights doesn’t get you too far in terms of burning fat, building muscle and looking better and younger. Some say that if you look like a big pear now and you only do cardio and lose weight, you will then just look like a smaller pear. And that’s true. To the authors, weight training is the big key as it accomplishes both it helps you build muscle and it helps you burn fat even hours and / or days after a workout. To me, and please note again that I’m neither a fitness pro nor a nutritionist, both have always gone hand in hand – weight lifting and running. I do 20 mins of other cardio every day in addition to working out with weights. Since my knees are getting older, I had to switch from running and the treadmill to the elliptical a while ago. The authors knew there would be folks like me it seems 😉 as they acknowledge that if you want to do cardio in addition to the weights, that’s totally fine. They recommend doing it after your lifting sessions in that case. So this is another point where this program is really good. The key point here is that this program does not require you to spend time going for a run or do other cardio in addition to the F4X Weight Workouts but it allows you to do so and even gives you tips for that.

I really appreciate the section about joint pains which outlines ways to address those pains along with recommended exercises for people who suffer from those pains. I suffer from two of the four mentioned pains: knee pain (from excessive running and getting older) and shoulder pain (from a memorable softball injury). The other ones tackled there are elbow pain and back pain.
They wrote this program in a way so that it is safe – that the weight exercises are designed not to damage your bones and joints. This is very important – especially for us in the 35+ age group. There are parts in the manual where they provide alternate exercise options – like “if you have lower back pain, you may want to do xyz instead”.

 The order of the chapters in the manual can be a bit confusing at first. At least, that’s how I experienced it. But that could be, and I’m just guessing here, due to the authors’ attempt to create a manual that is not boring and does not list one workout after another one in a boring fashion. The manual jumps from the “LEAN” workout to joint pain, then to a motivational topic, then to cardio and then to the “SHAPE” workout and so on. Once you understand how they structured it, it’s no biggie but, again, it may be a little “curve ball” for highly structured people like my self, LOL.

There’s another great additional chapter that blew my mind – in a positive way that is. The one about motivation is brutally honest. It’s similar to what I describe on my About page. Working out and eating right are crucial if you want to live a happier and longer life. Read this chapter and I’m sure you’ll change if you haven’t already. I would have, haven’t I had the same revelation a while ago. The manual doesn’t just leave you hanging after presenting you with the cold, hard truth – nope, it gives you 4 simple steps to create a lifestyle habit and also asks you to commit yourself to sticking to the program and a new, healthy lifestyle. And I think it makes sense that they ask you to do the latter – to commit yourself – as you can’t expect the program to do magic overnight. Like in many other areas of our life, there is no magic bullet, no get fit and muscular overnight magic. But commitment and consistency will get you anywhere and you’ll typically see the first results pretty soon. The day you change and commit yourself to your new lifestyle is the first day of your new and probably longer and healthier life. If I went through such a change, anyone can! Becky, one of the authors, provides 10 great practical tips around exercising, eating and other topics in one of the chapters that should make it easier for you to get started and stay on track.

Let’s move on to the nutrition side of things. Here, the program provides you with clear guidance on what, how and how often to eat. Details range from your daily carb and protein intake, the number of daily meals you should eat, specific daily diet suggestions, cheat / victory days on which you kinda can eat what you want to the role insulin plays for aging. I don’t want to give away too many details here as this – in addition to doing above workout exercises right – is the key to unlock your new lifestyle. Very helpful are the explanations on why a lot of people are overweight these days and why not eating or eating very little is not good for you. I did the latter the first time I decided to lose weight and did not understand why I wasn’t able to build up muscles at the same time. I wish I had known this program and read this manual back then. Each of the authors presents an example daily diet plan of theirs. This helps you translate what they talk about in terms of proteins, carbs, insulin, etc. to real life food easily. It was a great relief for me to see that one can still eat and drink yummy things while on this program. And the foods they list are not fancy in a way that they would cost you more than your regular food. It’s good to see a program being reasonable when it comes to the cost involved.

I was a bit concerned they may force some hardcore diet on me but … nope … the diet plans are very reasonable and should be easy to stick to. Don’t expect a couple of burger meals per day though. That would be unrealistic anyway. What’s great about this program, in my opinion, is that it allows you to still eat stuff that’s delicious and also eat enough not to be hungry all day. The manual also includes suggestions for alternate meal options in case the suggested ones as part of the authors daily diet plans don’t align with your taste buds 100% or if you’re looking for more variety. That helps extend the scope of foods you can eat but you shouldn’t stop there. The suggested meals are a good basis and help you explore and identify other foods / meals that you can build into your daily diet now that you understand what you can eat and what you should avoid or minimize.
There’s one table in the manual that has 10 specific steps to support the new eating habits – this one is very helpful as it shows that it’s really not that difficult to make a positive impact.

The authors really seem to be down to earth people. Not only that they talk about wanting to eat not so healthy food on their free days, they also have a section where they talk about alcohol and admit that they have some wine, too, every now and then. This is kind of a departure from classic fitness guru talk in my opinion as these gurus typically preach that you can’t have alcohol at all. I guess this is why so many fitness and diet programs fail – because they impose unrealistic sanctions on people who then quit. Not so these guys here. In the manual, they explain how much alcohol one can safely consume when and why if they want to without reversing any progress made by following the program. I really liked this aspect. I actually have one or two glasses of wine on a regular basis and the authors’ instructions help me enjoy the wine and not feel guilty or bad. I know it doesn’t hurt my progress if it’s in moderation and timed well – more on the latter in the manual.

The nutrition section closes with tips for optional supplements. No worries, they’re not talking about extreme bodybuilder type supplements. Just about normal and really helpful stuff like protein powder / shakes, amino acids and Phosphatidylserine. I never tried anything beyond protein powder / shakes but don’t see me as your role model there as my lack of experience in this particular field can merely be attributed to a lack of time to research those things. I’m not against it, I just never found the time to look into these things as my workout regimen combined with a healthy diet that includes powder / shakes seemed enough to be successful.

The manual has an extensive Q&A list covering many different topics from six pack tips to menopause – really extensive and great.

If you’re interested in following up the “LEAN” or “SHAPE” workouts in the main program with something more intense, then the last section of the manual is worth spending some time on – it explains the advanced training called “Full-Range BUILD Workout”. This training is based on the training of Danny Padilla – like Vince Gironda another legend in the bodybuilding space. Here’s a photo of him.

I hear you. Looks Danny knew what he was doing. 🙂
Per above bullet point, the “Full-Range BUILD Workout” comes with 4 action packed workout plans / days with 9-13 exercises each. Check it out to see if it’s for you. That chapter in the manual concludes with a photo of Steve taken at age 52 after following this training. Holy moly. Very impressive. Who doesn’t want to have a perfect body like this? 🙂

I think this program has the potential to change your life. It’s up to you to make the right decision. This honest, no BS review helps you take the first step. You’ll take it from there.

If you want to learn more about this program, check out the >>> official website <<< (Spanish version, French version).

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Above information is not to be used as a substitute for help from a licensed professional.