Mind Pump Maps Anabolic A Detailed Review

From A Female Perspective

In this article, I’ll be giving you my full and honest Mind Pump Media MAPS Anabolic review. I took advantage of one of their New Year deals and used my own money and paid for the Fabulous 40’s Bundle. The original price is $220 but I got a New Year deal for 50% off the regular price.

The Fabulous 40’s bundle includes:

• MAPS Anabolic
• MAPS Prime
• MAPS Anywhere
• Intuitive eating guide

If you are looking to achieve the best results for your body goals, to firm up, get leaner or just generally feel better, then you may have heard the advice that you need to be doing strength training and building muscle.

Yes, even the women out there! In fact, in particularly women and especially as we edge over to the other side of 40 it becomes even more important as we begin to experience hormonal shifts as well as muscle loss.

Strength training is not just about looking better, it’s the route to helping your midlife body with longevity. This means living longer, but also sustaining a better quality of life.

I will be forever banging this drum of getting women to lift weights and increase their strength.

Strength training is essential in midlife for:

• Reducing the rate of muscle loss (sarcopenia)
• Preserving metabolic rate and health (making it easier to maintain lean body mass)
• Preserving bone strength
• Balancing hormones

With this being said there are many ways in which you can work on your strength and muscle-building journey, but following a structured resistance training program can help take out the guesswork and maximise your results.

This is what the Mind Pump guys and their core and first fitness program MAPS Anabolic promise to do. MAPS Anabolic is their foundational muscle building programme. I set out to see if it does exactly what it says on the tin. You can also watch if you prefer in the YouTube review below

I’m a health coach, I have been practising health and fitness my entire adult life and despite this, as I approached the age of 40 I started noticing it becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain body composition without being super strict with my diet.

I am someone who gains weight very easily and it’s harder than ever to get it off. I also have PCOS which I’m finding is making things even more challenging.

Having said that I have always worked out with a focus on strength, yet I haven’t specifically worked on building muscle, and without a structured plan.

So I was really interested to see if the programme could help me build both strength and muscle in a bid to help support my midlife metabolism, and to be able to lean up a little.

I have been a huge fan of the guys at mind pump, after listening to their podcast for the last year or so. It’s a phenomenal resource and think that anyone interested in improving their health and fitness should have a listen. It’s also the place to get access to their money-saving deals on their programs and bundles.

Even as a health coach for the last 20+ years, I listen to these guys and realise that I am still always learning. The science of health and fitness is always finding new discoveries and these podcasts help me to stay on top of the latest research and information.

They give such high-level information, it helps me become a better coach, so I was looking forward to seeing how their programme would deliver in helping me to reach my own fitness goals.

What is the Maps Anabolic program?

Maps Anabolic is mind pump’s foundational program designed to help individuals build lean muscle mass, increase strength, and improve overall physical performance. The program focuses on progressive overload and periodization, which means that it gradually increases the intensity of your workouts over time to stimulate muscle growth and prevent plateaus. 

The program is divided into different phases and includes 2-3 main workouts (guide says it’s 45 mins to an hour per session) a week and shorter trigger sessions to be completed in between strength sessions (10 mins long 2-3 times a day). It’s a great starting place for lifters of all experience levels.

Their periodized approach ensures that you’re constantly challenging your muscles and preventing adaptation. 

The Science Behind Maps Anabolic

Progressive overload involves gradually increasing the amount of weight or resistance you lift over time. Meaning that after each week went by I was starting to notice the strength gains and was able to lift that little bit heavier each week.

This constant progression stimulates muscle growth by placing a greater demand on your muscles. Periodization, on the other hand, involves dividing your training into different phases, each with a specific focus and intensity level. 

• PRE PHASE: Weeks 1-3 Laying The Foundation                     
• PHASE I: Weeks 4-6 Strength                                        
• PHASE II: Weeks 7-9 Muscle Fiber                                    
• PHASE III: Weeks 10-12 Muscle Pump 

Each phase is carefully designed to build upon the progress made in the previous phase, ensuring continuous growth and improvement. This approach utilises different set and rep ranges to prevent plateaus and keeps your body constantly adapting to new challenges and seeing consistent strength gains.

The program also emphasizes compound exercises, which involve multiple muscle groups and joints. Compound exercises, such as squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, are more efficient and effective for building muscle and strength. Also utilising different exercises so you are also working different phases of muscle contractions to again gain greater all-round strength.

My Experience Of The Maps Programme

Inside the plan you get access to an online portal where you can access all of the information through a search site navigation cart. Here you will find video instructions for the workouts (for both men and women).

You also have the week full-body training blueprint as a PDF which is a great quick access to the different phases of the programme. For the first time, it’s good to access the instructional videos to ensure proper form, but after that, the blueprint is the go-to.

There are options for those working out in a commercial gym, which I do think is mostly aimed at and will get the most from the plan. I workout from my home gym and didn’t have all of the equipment, but was a ble to modify for things like cable work with the use of gymnastics rings or a TRX.

As someone who already trains regularly I skipped the pre-phase of the programme as this is designed for complete beginners, but those who are already training are advised to start with phase 1.

The programme is a lot of what I expected to see. Includes your solid compound lifts, no overly fancy or complex movements. Just the exercises that will reap results.

This includes squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, you get the idea.

I really loved that it was full body workouts and only 2 workouts a week felt like a dream. As someone who currently has a lot going on in life, this was a training schedule I could get behind.

The workouts took just over an hour to complete. An hour to an hour 20 depending on how much rest time I was taking between sets. As someone who has done a lot of metabolic conditioning and HIIT style workouts over the years this took some adjusting. I like to be able to do my workouts in a shorter amount of time, I also enjoy the feeling of working up a good sweat. Although my muscles felt pumped I rarely got out of breath or got a sweat up.

This helped me with the mindset piece. Though I don’t normally have resistance to doing a workout, I train regularly, it’s just part of who I am and I love moving my body.

Sometimes just the thought of doing a gruelling session means you can procrastinate and put it off. I even found myself doing some sessions in the afternoon or evening. I NEVER train in the evenings. I usually have to train in the morning or it just won’t happen so I schedule that shit in.

But with this workout, as I knew I wouldn’t be huffing and puffing the same and just had to move some weights around. I found I was easily able to stick with the plan and actually looked fowrad to working out in a much calmer manner. Don’t get me wrong I was still working hard and pushing the limits to what I could life, it’s just a much different emphasis on the training.

There are short trigger sessions to be completed between main lifting days. These are higer reps lighter resistance sessions using either bodyweight or bands and they say to get a little muscle burn and to complete a few times throughout the day. These are very short sessions, that are designed to keep the signals of training switched on in the muscle when you are not in the gym. I actually didn’t complete a lot of these as I train clients I am constantly moving or doing lighter lifts even on my non training days.

Having come towards the end of doing one cycle I am feeling stronger, tighter in my muscles and feeling more defined. In all, I think this is an excellent program and I have developed a solid base of strength, beyond what I felt before.

I haven’t lost any weight on the scale but I am feeling leaner. I feel more like my body is now better primed to burn fat and go into a phase of a cut, I wish I had taken my measurements before starting the plan, but I hope you can see the changes in muscle definition in the pictures below.

I have had some health issues with my PCOS that I am currently navigating, mostly around the fact that fluctuating hormones mean that I just feel hungry all of the time and so maintaining a calorie deficit is harder and something I am continuing to work on.

Having said this, this is coming from my own knowledge. As this is a big drawback I found of the MAPS programmes when they are purchased in isolation.

I did purchase as a bundle that also included Maps Prime (mobility programme) MAPS Anywhere (at home or travel plan) and their Intuitive Eating Guide. You don’t get the eating guide as standard, but I really think it should be.

I feel that all fitness programmes should come with some form of eating guide. They say it’s because nutrition is too personalised, which i can understand, but there are also basics that run across the board and also guidelines to inform and teach a person how to start personalising their own nutrition. Because they have done exactly that with the intuitive eating guide and I feel for the price of the MAPS Anabolic programme ($117) is should come included with the eating guide.

There is also no follow up support. It’s a self study and implement course. Again I am fine with this as I like to just work away on my own. But know that many people like and need some accountability and support. But I know they can’t give that to the amount of people that buy this course and at this price point.

There are a few other issues that are really just personal preference though it’s maybe more of a business decision.

Personal Dislikes

MAPS Anabolic also doesn’t include warm-ups

Again they state that this is due to the individualisation required in warm-ups specific to your body and they recommend getting MAPS Prime. Prime looks at helping you to asses tight and weaker areas of your body’s mobility and function and helps you to build mobility sessions and a warm-up accordingly.

I understand the reasoning, yet I still believe a programme should have a warm-up included in the plan even if it’s a more generalised one, especially for beginners who are just starting out.

So whilst I do love the plan I would recommend getting some sort of bundle plan if you can afford it. This way you will get the most from your training.

Feels Very Upper Body Focused

I feel as male coaches and that is who their main demographic is, this is a more male-focused workout. Though the workouts are full-body and they also give a female demonstration video, most of the exercises focus on upper body with just one lower body lift per session. Mainly squat and deadlift.

For me personally, in the winter months, this actually works well. I snowboard in the winter and I appreciated not having legs that felt like lead. However when I am not on the mountain as much, I would like to have more lower body work in my workouts.

There is also some weird obsession with calf raises. Again I think this is a male thing and after hearing them talk on one podcast about calves and comparing calf sizes, this confirmed my theory that this is yes a man thing.

Whilst strong calves and good ankle mobility are important, I live in the mountains, I walk hills on a daily basis, my claves do not need to develop any bigger than they already are.

There are also a lot of shoulder shrugs. I feel that aesthetically I have never heard a woman say she wants to have bigger traps, it’s not a super feminine look. But functionally for those of us who spend many hours sitting at a desk, I do feel that doing the shrugs has helped massively with my posture and also I have noticed reduced neck pain, so I should just shut up and do my shoulder shrugs. 

Which then leads me onto my final point.

The Exercises Are Lacking Functionality

But then this is not the specific goal this particular programme. The program is simply for muscle building and sculpting, it’s not designed for functionality. The exercises are predominantly in the sagittal (front and back) and sagittal (left/right) planes. We are three dimentional beings we need to be able to move well and strongly within all directions of movement, especially rotational to help prevent injuries.

So moving forwards, I would really be interested to see what is in their MAPS Performance plan which would be next on my list to try out.

For the goal of muscle building and strength gains, yes this is exactly what the plan is for. However, it’s my own personal opinion and preference that I like a mix of strength and functional training within my programming.

No Tracking Functionality

There is no tracking functionality included within the plan. Personally, I love an old school pen and paper in my new dedicated training log book I prefer to write things down old school. So this is actually not a problem for me but I think for some people it could be an issue.

I’d also like to see a what’s next. Once. the programme is finished there is no insrtuction of where to go next with your training to keep on seeing improvements. But you could simply keep on repeating the programme to keep seeing more gains.

Conclusion Of The Maps Anabolic Review

I have really enjoyed the MAPS Anabolic despite some of my own personal preferences as stated above. I am feeling stronger, more defined and actually am feeling a lot less achy and sore.

Simply put I love the way I am feeling right now after completing the programme. I haven’t felt overly fatigued or like my body is constantly in pain. I feel well recovered and with good energy.

I have not lost any body weight but I do feel like my body is now better primed to be able to go into a phase of a cut as I feel like there is a lot more muscle there and my metabolism may be better primed to burn body fat.

I have noticed feeling hungrier the last couple of weeks but it’s always difficult to tell if that is just due to PCOS symptoms and hormonal fluctuations.

So I feel much better, but looking back at the video’s there isn’t really any significant changes to my mid section, which is my problem area though that has to come from hormonal balance and diet. I am really happy with how my arms are looking and will be rocking them out in short sleeve tops at the first signs of sunshine.

Always the reminder that changes don’t come from training alone, it has to go hand in hand with changes to nutrition if you want to achieve fat loss and why I really personally feel that all programmes should come with some form of nutritional guidance as standard.

And whilst I am feeling so much stronger I have taken my chin ups from being able to do just 3, to now 7 chin ups on my best day. I’m not sure that I am feeling all that fit. I easily get out of breath and so I do like to have some form of fitness training in my plan too. Again leading me to believe that MAPS performance may be a better plan for me going forward now rather than the maps anabolic advanced.  

I have really built up some base strength and as I move out of the winter season and start triathlon training I’m hoping to see an improved athletic performance.

In all, I think this is a great program and one of the highlights of the program is it’s simplicity and not having to train on so many days of the week.

It’s one of the best online programs I have tried yet, that is well structured for strength training and I would highly recommend it as a great way to start a strength training journey. 

The Mind Pump team know their stuff and will teach you the best way to get in shape without all of the BS that other people are pushing. The offer science-backed real life talk without all of the fake marketing BS, (ahem V-Shred) which is always refreshing to see and I trust what these guys have to say.

If you are thinking of trying it out, you can access week one of the training plan on their YouTube channel so you can see for yourself.

Is see the only downside is the lack of including the warm up and the nutrition as standard and so i definitely recommend getting a bundle if you can as the mobility program is also excellent.