Men's Health: The Book of Muscle : The World's Most Authoritative Guide to Building Your Body
by Lou Schuler, Ian King
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ian King, Lou SchulerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-17
ISBN: 1579547699
Number of pages: 364
Publisher: Rodale Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781579547691
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
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Book Reviews of Men's Health: The Book of Muscle : The World's Most Authoritative Guide to Building Your Body
Book Review: 18 Months of Quality, Progressive Weight Training
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm almost done with the Beginner Program from the book and I have probably picked up about 5 pounds of muscle in about 4 months. Previously, I have completed Power 90 (to lose weight) and I've done P90X twice (for conditioning and to see my 6 pack).
The number one thing I like about this book is that instead of being a 90 day quick fix it program, it's a progressive, comprehensive program for building functional strength, flexibility, bone and joint strength, and muscle density and mass. As a hard gainer, I've had trouble gaining mass in the past. My self-directed routines took longer in the gym and never really got me anywhere. And P90X, while a kickass conditioning program, isn't the best for putting on mass (even though I did gain a little bit).
The first part of the book is physiology, nutrition, and the basics of the program. The rest of the book is the workouts themselves. I find the workouts typically take about an hour, hour and fifteen to complete. The longest workout I've had so far was 2 hours, but I kept getting distracted. But the length of the workouts are, in part, dictated by the tempo of the reps themselves. For example, in the beginning stages of the programs when the workouts focus on strengthening weak points like joints and grip, there are up to 16 different exercises in a workout, not including the ab routine. But they are generally only 1 or 2 sets and the tempo is faster and the whole thing is done as a circuit. Later, especially in the Advanced Program, there might be only 2 exercises (again, not including abs), but you do 10 sets each and the tempo is really slow (like REALLY slow, I'm talking 10 seconds to lower or raise the weight slow).
The great thing about the programs is that they are progressive. The first stages are for physiological adaptation (joints, wrists, grip, etc), then hypertrophy, then strength, then maximal strength and power. Then you start it over again in the next Program. Once I wrapped my brain around the fact that I would have to work up to deadlifts, I was fine with doing single leg unweighted good mornings for a few weeks for hams. I realized that I needed to make sure my ankles, grip, knees and other areas were ready to rock before I did the heavy stuff. Having the mental attitude that this is a long, fun journey makes it a lot easier to stick with the program. By the way, even though I had always heard that big squats and deadlifts were pretty much the best exercises for the entire body, now that I've been doing them for several weeks, have figured out the right form, and have added a lot of weight to them, they leave me huffing and puffing at the end of a set! Especially the deadlifts. Man, I love those!
This is a great book and I highly recommend it for anybody who is interested in a solid, progressive, long-term resistance training program - and that includes women. The book looks very nice and there isn't a whole lot of extraneous info that the trainee doesn't need. The sole gripe I had in the beginning is that it would have been nice to have the page numbers for the exercises in the workouts section. Of course, now I have the exercises memorized and I know where to look for the new exercises that pop up.
Go get it and get started on building the physique you know you want if you are reading reviews of this book.
More Men's Health: The Book of Muscle : The World's Most Authoritative Guide to Building Your Body reviews:
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