Finding a training program that fits your goals and your abilities can sometimes be a frustrating process.
In your search, you might have come across the Adonis Golden Ratio System – a training program created by Kyle Leon and John Barban.
Although the Adonis Golden Ratio isn’t all that new on the market, it recently has started a heavy marketing campaign aimed mostly at beginners in the world of bodybuilding.
The nature of the product (it’s an online program) and the way it’s advertised often deters people from getting any deeper in it.
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That’s why I’ve decided to make a thorough and objective review of this very popular program, to help you make an informed choice on whether it’s right for you.
The Adonis Golden Ratio Workout Program
The Adonis Golden Ratio is a 12-week training program aimed at men who want to achieve a more masculine physique. What makes this program different from the others is the fact that its entire focus is on aesthetics, not strength.
The program is based on the golden ratio – a ratio of two quantities that equals 1.6. Many ancient painters and sculptors used the golden ratio in their work, as it’s believed to be the most aesthetically pleasing to the human eye and to women.
Many scientific studies have found that men whose physique is closest to the golden ratio are more attractive to women. This inspired the two creators of Adonis Golden Ratio to implement this golden proportion into their training program, and help men achieve a more attractive and masculine physique.
This program is based on the belief that the key to having an attractive and masculine body isn’t mass, but proportion. Although the basis of the program does sound convincing, the lack of both scientific and circumstantial proof will make it tough to sell to a more cynical customer.
The Guys Behind The AGR System
The Adonis Golden Ratio is the brainchild of two veterans in the fitness industry – John Barban and Kyle Leon.
Although an internet search won’t tell you much about Mr. Leon and his life, he’s had his fingers in the industry for quite some time now, collaborating on different fitness programs such as the incredibly popular Customized Fat Loss Program.
John Barban, on the other hand, is a more well-known internet persona who's been involved in many companies in the weight-loss and supplement industry such as:
- MuscleTech
- SlimQuick
- NxLabs
- BlueStar Nutraceuticals
Having a Master’s degree in Human Biology and Nutrition has given some weight to the Adonis Golden Ratio and helped it gain credibility.
A Closer Look at The Adonis Golden Ratio Package
The Adonis Golden Ratio is an online only program, which means you will get a link to download the 9 PDF files and nutrition software after you purchase it.
All of the files you get are meant to be read in a successive order, so the Adonis Effect Index Manual should be your first stop.
The manual is sort of an intro to the entire program and it starts by explaining what the Adonis Golden Ratio is.
The manual has quite a bit of interesting information, and there’s a lot of data on how women of different age, race, and origin generally find the same body type attractive.
Although the data and the studies cited are pretty solid, the rest of the content is pretty romanticized. The manual then goes on to explain how anthropologists and psychologists have been searching for the answer to this phenomenon of universal attractiveness and finally managed to find it in the form of the golden ratio.
If you bother to read through the entire manual, you’ll get to the part where the authors describe all the benefits of being attractive and all the ways your life will improve if you achieve the ideal physique defined by this golden ratio.
Whether or not you want to believe in this is up to you, but our word of advice is – don’t judge a book by its cover, or manual that is. The content of the manual can be an interesting conversation piece in the locker room, but feel free to ignore it as it will have little to no impact on the effectiveness of the program itself.
The Adonis Golden Ratio package contains three different nutrition programs, all listed in the ebook that follows the manual. The adonis golden ratio nutrition guide is pretty detailed and thorough, leaving no stone unturned when it comes to any questions you might have regarding how diet interacts with your training.
There are three different types of programs, depending on the outcome you want to achieve:
- Burn - This nutrition program is aimed at people who want to lose as much fat as possible in the least amount of time. The focus of the program is overweight people whose goal is fat loss, rather than muscle building.
- Burn and Build - The Burn and Build program is aimed at people with a higher level of physical fitness who want to get rid of the last couple of pounds bothering them and tighten their muscles. The diet described in the program will ensure you get rid of any extra fat without affecting your lean muscle mass.
- Build - A program aimed at an advanced audience, it promotes a high-calorie diet necessary for those who want to build a significant amount of muscle mass.
Adonis Golden Ratio Calculator and Software
After you’ve been introduced to the different programs in the Adonis Golden Ratio package, you receive another manual that helps you determine which program you’re supposed to use.
You’re assigned a certain program depending on the ratio of your body.
There are pretty detailed instructions listed on how to use the calculator software, so you won’t have any problems with measuring or calculating.
However, after completing my review of the program, my advice is no to skip this step. It’s crucial to the success of the entire program and it will give you an insight into how proportional (or disproportional, for that matter) your body is. What you’ll be measuring is your waist to shoulder ratio and the smaller the ratio is, the more proportional you are, at least according to the program.
You’ll have to add in your height and weight, but the entire calculating process is pretty straightforward and almost impossible to get wrong.
When you’ve determined what your ratio is, and found your place in the ratio chart, you’ll have to choose one of three available options. One of the great things about this program is that it doesn't dismiss your height, as many training programs often do, and customizes each option so it fits people of different heights.
So, for example, option 1 is tailor made to suit people that are 5’7”, option 2 those who are between 5’8” and 6’, while option 2 is made for those higher than 6’1”.
Adjusting your training and diet to fit your height might sound unnecessary, but it actually makes all the difference, especially if you’re at either end of the height spectrum.
The Training Section of The Adonis Workout Program
Once you get to the training part of the Adonis Golden Ratio package, things start getting a bit more interesting.
If you’re expecting the program to be a spectacular new discovery, you’re up for a disappointment. The workouts described are all familiar even to a beginner and are almost exclusively focused on your upper body.
What’s interesting about the program aren’t the exercises themselves, but the number of repetition. Each workout is based on the same rep range, with the weights increasing slowly as you get further into the program.
The workouts consist of:
- A complete list of exercises you’ll do in each workout
- A cardio workout you’ll do twice a week
- A weightlifting workout you’ll do four times a week
- Each of the four-week cycles you’ll do in the program - Growth, Lean Muscle, and Definition
- Additional advice on how to adjust your rep range depending on which cycle you’re on
- The nutrition guide
This is what makes this program great. The incredible amount of information you get and the thoroughness of the program makes training much less of a burden, especially for beginners.
Everything in the Adonis package is downloadable and printable, which means you can carry it with you at all times.
Whatever your thoughts are about this Adonis Golden Ratio Review, you can’t deny that taking the mystery out of your daily gym sessions really is worth the price tag.
The Adonis Golden Ratio Nutrition Guide
Everything you’ve read above can also be applied to the nutrition guides. Each of the training programs comes with its own detailed diet guide, along with quite a few pieces of pretty valuable information.
Unlike the introduction manual, the diet guide is straightforward and extremely useful. On one of the first pages of the book, you’ll get some valuable advice on how and when to eat.
The guide advises you to eat within the first 30 minutes you wake up and continue eating throughout the day in 3-5 hour intervals.
To be clear – none of this is new information. The guide telling you that you should eat your largest meal right after you work out isn’t all that sensational, but having all of these simple rules and advice printed out and hung on your fridge will make the dieting part of this program much, much easier.
And now, we’re getting to the good part – the meal plan. The nutrition guide comes with a complete 56-day meal plan, along with a detailed grocery list for each week of the program. The recipes all really tasty, highly nutritional, and pretty affordable. You’ll need very little kitchen gadgets and equipment to make these recipes, which makes it suitable for people living in college or on a budget.
Even if you don’t get the results you wanted with the program, the nutrition guide is a real treasure. You can tweak it a bit so it fits any one of the training programs you might choose in the future. And the best thing is you’ll still have the grocery list and the eating diary to use, even if you return the product.
Motivation and Community as Part of AGR System
If you’re a more advanced gym-goer, you might want to skip on the Big Goals Small Goals part of the program. It might sound naïve to a more experienced and motivated lifter, but motivation is something most beginners struggle with.
The authors seem to know that and have dedicated a part of their book to this problem. The tools they decided to use are the Big Goal – Small Goal tactic.
Both Barban and Leon believe that the key to staying motivated in the gym is setting multiple small, realistic goals you use as steps to reach a single, bigger goal. The program provides you with a template you can print or download and write your goals down on. Tha way, you’ll have a clear look at what’s ahead of you and how far you’ve come.
As part of the AGR system you also get access to a forum with over 10,000 threads and more than 44,000 members. Having other people who are on the same program who can hold you accountable and review your progress is an amazing way to keep motivated.
Conclusion
When it comes to using and reviewing training programs like these, it’s understandable you get into it with a certain dose of skepticism.
However, I'm here to tell you that you should leave your doubts at the door when it comes to the Adonis Golden Ratio.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s not without its flaws. The science behind the golden ratio’s connection to workouts isn’t made clear, neither is the use of the Fibonacci sequence.
Despite all of this, the Adonis Golden Ratio gets my stamp of approval. The workout plan is as detailed as it can get, leaving little room for confusion or mistakes. The nutrition guide is a real treasure – takes all the guesswork out of buying, preparing and eating during the training period.
All in all, the Adonis package is a solid workout plan in a sea of cheap internet scams. A decent price tag and the detailed, step-by-step guides certainly won’t leave you disappointed.