EFS Product Review: Basic Training Manual E-Book

By The Doorman

For www.EliteFTS.com

Overview:

I’ve always been a big fan of e-books and the instant gratification factor they offer. As someone who does a great deal of reading and research on training, I think it’s convenient as hell to have instant access to material that interests me. When you see a book you want, you usually want it now – not after a trip to a library or bookstore, and you definitely don’t want to wait a week for the thing to be shipped, which is why I rarely order books online. Who wants to wait that long?

I’m also a major proponent of EFS’ various manuals, because they’re convenient, too. I’ve been to four EFS seminars, I peruse the Q&A multiple times each day, and I’ve read every single article on this website. If you’re as well-versed as I and many others are in the philosophies of the athletes and coaches who’ve populated the Q&A over the years, you’ll appreciate the manuals because they condense all the truly “important” stuff, organizing it coherently so the reader doesn’t have to fish through countless articles and posts to get to the root of what he or she is looking for.

The Basic Training Manual is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Basic Training offers the “meat” of about a hundred different articles in one accessible, easy-to-read 138 page volume. This is an important release by EFS, because you’ll see questions like the following every single day on the Q&A:

“Hi, I’m a powerlifter who’s been stuck at the same total for the past five years. My bench lockout is weak, but I think my problem might also be weakness off my chest. My deadlift is bad off the floor, but I also have problems locking it out. Can you write me a program? Should I take more waxy maize? Thanks.”

The response to this sort of question is invariably the same:

“Search the archives of this site and read all the articles. You’ll find what you’re looking for there.”

I can vouch for that. You will find what you’re looking for on this site if you have the patience to use the search function and the time and persistence to read and learn from all the articles presented here. Whatever system you’re into, you’ll find whatever you need to know if you’re willing to put in the work. Basic Training takes the best of all of it, puts it in one place, and takes you through every aspect of designing a program and system that will work best for you. It’s essentially a companion volume for the information this site provides, and it should probably be required reading before logging onto the Q&A. It’s that good.

Of course, EFS being what it is, Basic Training is essentially a soup-to-nuts owner’s manual for a heavily Westside-influenced conjugate system. If you’ve just discovered this means of training, or you’ve been doing it for a while and still don’t think you’ve got it figured out, Basic Training is a terrific place to become conversant in the language. Inherent in the system itself – and this is something people often underestimate about the conjugate system – is the flexibility to tailor programs to any individual. Far from being a simple collection of templates, Basic Training shows you how to – as Jim says – “master the reasons why” and take ownership of a program that makes complete and total sense for you.

Format:

Basic Training, as well as the other e-books offered for purchase here on the EFS website, comes in a high quality, easy-to-download .pdf file that arrives almost instantly after purchase. It’s obvious that Dave and Jim – as well as their editor and graphic designer – put some serious time into this project, because Basic Training is as professionally produced, or more so, as anything you’ll find anywhere. The layout and font selection are pleasing to the eye and comfortable to read online, and it’s well-written and edited properly, free of the annoying grammatical, spelling and syntax errors that often make material of this nature difficult and confusing to read.

Content/Organization:

Dave and Jim take you through everything here – and I mean everything. From constructing a warm-up, to conditioning – sled and Prowler training are discussed in detail – to the most comprehensive coverage of the max effort, dynamic effort and repetition effort methods you’ll see anywhere, Basic Training starts at the beginning and accelerates the conjugate system learning curve in rapid fashion.

Throughout Basic Training, straight-from-the-trenches advice is offered for every contingency that could possibly arise during the course of constructing a program. First, you’re shown what things look like on paper. Dave and Jim then anticipate what you’ll encounter when you put things into practice, telling you exactly what to do at every point of your development as a lifter. This is accomplished both within the text introducing each new concept and in highly perceptive Q&A sections following each individual topic. Additionally, for each separate concept, you’ll be shown examples of the “right” and “wrong” ways to implement things into your program.

The sections on exercise technique alone are worth the cost of this e-book. Anyone who has attended an EFS seminar will attest to the fact that the “under the bar” coaching sessions are quite possibly of more value than the actual lecture material. There’s simply no substitute for having your bench, squat and deadlift technique checked out by some of the world’s best coaches, which is exactly what happens in the latter part of most EFS seminars. The technique portions of Basic Training – including significant amounts of material on the correction of common mistakes - constitute an invaluable compilation of the most vital coaching points Dave and Jim have gleaned from decades of training and competition. The advice you’ll receive here is the next best thing to having Jim rip you apart in front of fifty people.

Price:

Here’s where I’ll editorialize a little bit. Quite honestly, I can’t believe EFS is offering this manual for $34.95. If you’re a beginner, it might cost you double this amount to hire a personal trainer – who wouldn’t know a tenth of the stuff presented here – for an hour-long session. Save your money, get Basic Training, and learn how to do things the right way. If you’re an advanced lifter, an actual EFS seminar will run you in excess of $200, not including travel expenses. At $34.95, the information and guidance you’ll find in Basic Training are a bargain on a massive, massive scale.

Get your Basic Training Manual here