4 stars (Thank you Bill) - The approach presented by Bill Phillips in "Body for Life" worked fine for me. However, the problem is that you have to have a real commitment and a really strong will power to follow the regime presented by the author. Also, in my opinion, there is too much focus on the looks and too little on the health. I think the latter is more important than the former. I have recently found a book that shifts the attention more towards health and overall wellbeing and it gives you no trouble whatsoever to follow simple rules for food combinations, body cleansing etc. Although I have a lot of respect for Bill Phillips as my first coach I think that "Can We Live 150 Year"s is a superior book to "Body for Life". Sorry Bill. 5 stars (My second copy of this book!) - A terrific book and a great program. This book is actually my second copy, since my first copy completely fell apart after so much use. It is truly a fantastic way to get in shape. I had suffered a couple of serious injuries and have been unable to work out much for the last year, but before the injuries I was well on my way to transforming my body for life. Now, I'm mended and ready to start all over again. It's amazing to see how quickly this program changes your body - with much less effort and sacrifice than a lot of other "get fit quick" programs. The eating for life portion of the book is a little tough to follow at times, since I do enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine now and then, but I just modify it, work out a little harder and enjoy my little treat now and then anyway. The free day allows you to eat whatever you want once a week so you don't feel too deprived, but I found that after you start seeing the changes in your body, you'll be reluctant to just pig out. It's nice to treat yourself without feeling guilty. Buy the book, follow the program and you really will see a completely new body in your mirror in a few months! 5 stars (This program is AWESOME!!!) - Guys don't waste y... Collins :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Weight Loss :: Physical fitness :: Motivational & Inspirational :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness :: Health :: Exercise :: Diet & H :: Body for Life- 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength
5 stars (A surprisingly good book) - I wasn't really looking for much out here, but was pleasantly surprised with the quality and content of the book. I have been doing weight lifting for many years, and have bought all sorts of books, and this is the only book that sounds complete and reliable. The book also has 18 months of chalked out routine which are quite easy to follow. I have been through all sorts of training programmes, and the authours of each book claim that they have "something real" that the other writers don't. They openly bash each other. OK, now here's the truth. Any programme will work for beginners, whether its superslow or Brawn. The truth is that you got to go to the gym and lift. So, if any programme works, why not use the one thats presented in this book? Its carefully planned out, time-tested and lasts for 18 months (others just last for 12 weeks or so and then they leave you hanging in air). My advice, get this book and start working out. You won't loose. All the nest! 5 stars (Great training book) - I got a supplement of this book with a copy of mens healt a few years ago. It was my bible for training until one day my car was stolen with the supplement in it. I was lost without it until I bought the full book from amazon recently. It is a great training aid for those who are serious about training but need a little, or should I say lack a little in the form of direction. This book is great for giving yourself the programme(s) to follow and a great step by step description of how to do the various exercises. I dont leave this one in my car to be stolen again as I dont want to loose it a second time.... Gerard 5 stars (BEST OF THE BEST) - An excellent,interesting,well written and professionally illustrated guide to building your body.Physiology,cardio,nutrition,warmup,stretching(flexibility),and weight training are shown to work synergistically to gain strength and build muscle. This book is full of helpful hints and interesting facts.For e... Rodale Books :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Sports & Recreation :: Sports :: Physical fitness :: Men's Health :: Exercise :: Diet & Health & Fitness :: Bodybuilding & Weight Tra :: Men-s Health The Book of Muscle
5 stars (Swimmer attempts a triathlon) - I liked this book because it broke training levels down into all levels. The author even has a trianing level for the single sporter like myself. If you don't have the time to go all out, then you should look at getting this book. 5 stars (Enjoyed this book) - I truly enjoyed reading this book and utilizing the advice Eric Harr offered. It was easy to read, well organized and made my training enjoyable. I just completed my first sprint triathlon, had a blast and now I'm training for my next race. I felt this book assisted me as I prepared mentally and physically for the race, not only by laying out what to expect race day but also the weeks leading up to it. I would highly recommend this book to any first timers out there. 5 stars (Great place to start your triathlon training) - This book is perfect if you are interested in training for a triathlon, but are just not sure how to do it. I run and bike, but have never done a triathlon before. I just did not have any clue how to design a program that would allow me to incorporate running, swimming, and cycling in such a way that I would be able to finish a sprint distance triathlon. Using the program in this book I was able to train for and easily complete my first sprint triathlon. If you have any interest in training for a triathlon and do not know how, I would HIGHLY recommend this book. It is not technical. It makes you believe you can do it, and it provides a program framework that works. The program(s) in this book cover fitness levels from bare beginners all the way to single sport Gods (runners, cyclists, etc.) They are geared towards a sprint distance, but adaptable up to 1/2 ironman distance. Each program is doable (time wise). You do not need to quit your job and divorce your wife. Overall, fantastic. If you want to train but do not know where to start, this is where to start. ... Rodale Books :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Triathlon :: Training :: Track & Field :: Sports & Recreation :: Sports :: Exercise :: Eric Harr :: :: Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week
5 stars (Core Benefits !) - what a difference this book has made in my basic body alignment. I am really taking the time to follow the simple plans of building my core and people see the results. And i am pleased with the results. 4 stars (Excellent workout, but understand the limitations) - As background, I'm a late thirties guy who has generally been active in fitness and recreational sports, but I've been out of competitive athletics since college. As such, I started with a good-but-not-great level of fitness. My reasons for starting included boredom with my routine of weightlifting and kickboxing on alternate days, as well as some reading about the merits of core conditioning as a training approach. I enjoyed this program from the beginning. I could detect improvements in flexibility and abdominal strength within a few workouts. Also, the variety was intellectually stimulating. I used the program for about 9 weeks, took a break from it, and returned. Now I am not quite as strict in sticking to the schedules lined out in the book, but rather work them in with other workouts as time and interest allow. Strengths: 1) The workouts are rigorous and concise. They seldom exceed 45 minutes if you stick to the rules about the amount of rest between sets, but you feel like you have had a good workout. 2) The program works. It helped with overall fitness and sport-specific fitness in soccer and karate. I literally have felt better and fitter than I have in years. 3) The complaint about the science of the book is being answered as research catches up with this training approach. Dynamic stretching, "core" exercises and interval training are showing up in research studies and in professional training rooms. I don't think a reader needs to feel that this is an "out there" approach to fitness. Weakness: 1) The typos should be embarrassing. Most of the time you can figure out what the author meant, but the website is full of people writing in and asking for cl... Rodale Books :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Physical fitness :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness :: Exercise :: Bodybuilding :: Athletic Training And Conditioning :: Mark Vers :: Core Performance - The Revolutionary Workout Program to Transform Your Body and Your Life
2 stars (Workout endlessly and get nowhere) - The graphic design of this book is impeccable. Also, the book's binding and readability are fairly decent. The major flaw of the book is its shallow approach to weight training. The girl pictured on the book cover and inside is anorexic are represents poor image to fit females, despite her beautiful hair. Working out with 3-pound dumbbells is counter-productive. She should have been instructed on gaining muscle mass with adequate protein intake in her diet and proper general fitness training prior to indulging in isolated exercising of individual muscles. Also, the picture of the man perfroming barbell leg-lunges depicts a flawed technique where the lower back is rounded, which led to the limited backward exntension of the rear leg. Exercising each region of the body by weights requires endless training with minimal outcome. It is a frustrating and futile way of teaching people how to workout with weight. The book is divided into many chapters addressing regional exercises with total disregard on the modern emphasis on sports-like training as a practical and efficient way of altering physique and building healthy and robust musculature and lung and heart fitness. The book falls into this category of media published by wealthy individuals whose experience and knowledge with proper fitness planning is questionable at best. Beginners of weight training could make greater progress with simple exercises such as running, push-up, and chin-ups. These three compound exercises, besides emphasizing the major muscle groups of the thighs and shoulders and exquisitely workout the low-back, they also enhance the cardiovascular function, which improves general health and fitness. 5 stars (The best weight training book ever!) - This book is great for anyone who is just starting a workout routine or who wants to learn how to get the most out of their workout. The book is broken down into sections for each part of the body and ... Visual :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Weight lifting :: Weight Training :: Sports & Recreation :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness :: Exercise :: Bodybuilding & Weight T :: Teach Yourself Visually Weight Training
3 stars (Unbelievable and bizarre) - There is some good body building information in this book. Unfortunately the good is buried within bizarre tales about the psychological quirks of some of the characters, and by some blatantly false stories of what HIT supposedly did. An example of a false story is someone supposedly losing 52 pounds of fat in 66 days. This was with a 1500 calorie diet and three short weight-lifting sessions per week as the only exercise! Mathematically a pound is 3500 calories, so it would take at least 30 miles of day of running to even theoretically lose weight that fast. The reality is that no one could physically or psychologically tolerate a 2750 calorie per day deficit for long. The author clearly worships Arthur Jones, and he approvingly tells tales of how Jones would threaten to beat up anyone who dared speak in his presence (including Arnold Schwarzenegger) or disagree with him, because Jones felt he was due that "respect". Jones is also quoted telling stories about animals in Africa, which supposedly prove the body building system in the book is true. Another bizarre anecdote is a rumor that body builder Mike Mentzer sometimes believe that Jones was God, and that Mentzer was the Son of God. Those Jones and Darden disagree with are trashed by the anecdotes in the book, while we hear only impossibly good things about those they like. The diet material, as mentioned above, is unbelievable. The weight lifting information is good, and covers half the book, which is why I have given the stars. There are detailed workout plans, along with pictures and comments explaining each exercise. There is also a discussion of the principles of high intensity training. 5 stars (What HIT is all about) - I'll be consise: You don't need to spend all that endless hours in the gym, as Schwarzrnegger and Weider are claiming. Researches (regardless to this book) show insignificant difference in muscle strength and hypertrophy, when comparing 1 set to a ... Rodale Books :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Weight training :: Weight lifting :: Sports & Recreation :: Muscle strength :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness :: Exercise :: Bodybu :: The New High Intensity Training - The Best Muscle-Building System You-ve Never Tried
3 stars (Mostly the same info packaged better) - I enjoyed reading this book but it was the same information that came with my Bow Flex, just put together in a more organized fashion with a few extra thrown in.... 4 stars ( The Bowflex Body Plan is Different and It Works) - I ordered this book because the manual that came with my Bowflex didn't have instructions for a few exercises and attachments (like the belt and instructions for the leg extensions)and I was hoping the book would have them. It did. The book came and my first reaction was... this guy is nuts. I read most of the book thinking it would just get placed on the book shelf with all the other diet books I've collected over the years. My second reaction was... this is different than all those other books (including the manual) and all those other books aren't working so what do I have to lose but some flab? I'm on my second week following the plan in this book and I've lost around 8 pounds and I can see my arms are toning up. The ice water is good, the diet is do-able and I like doing my light cardio workout after dinner. I learned a lot of little secrets and I'm really convinced that I can last the initial six week plan and continue on after that with my Bowflex. If you are doing multiple sets of 12 or more reps with light weights with little results... you'd benefit by getting this book and changing the way you're doing things. 3 stars (Repeats the Bowflex Ultimate Manual) - I bought a used Bowflex and the seller didn't have the manual. I wanted to use the machine properly and ordered a manual from the company, but it was back-ordered so I bought this book. It's well written and the photographs are good, but once the manual arrived I saw the book was pretty much a repeat. If you want a hardback, then buy the book, otherwise buy the manual since it's much less expensive. ... Rodale Books :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Training :: Physical fitness :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness :: Exercise :: Diet & Health & Fitness :: Bodybuilding & Weight Tr :: The Bowflex Body Plan
5 stars (Essential strength training material.) - After reading Pavel Tsatsouline's "The Naked Warrior," I took the plunge and purchased this book along with a basic 36-pound kettlebell. The exercises are more technically demanding than what you see being performed in fitness clubs, but the superior results of kettlebell training are impossible to deny: lean wiry muscles, increased endurance, and immense reserves of functional strength. Unlike the Nautilus scene, kettlebells are just plain fun to work out with, and like I said, they leave no doubt even after your first encounter with them that they are *the* ticket for the would-be ironman (or woman.) If you have a fitness club membership, burn it and use the proceeds to purchase this book and a kettlebell or two. It's a better deal. 5 stars (Fantastic Workout) - If you are tired of dieting and aerobics, want to take part in an intense workout, or if you just want to read more about this crazy workout and learn some basics this book is for you. This book provides a great introduction to Kettlebell Training. This book is broken into the following four very useful sections. Section One explains the History of the Russian Kettlebell. Section Two goes into Special Applications such as Combat Sports, Arm Wrestling, Weight Loss, etc. Section Three goes into actual Kettlebell Techniques. Section Four finishes the book off with some Classic Kettlebell Programs One of the most impressive parts of this book and the reason I believe it earns its 5 stars is because of not only its complete history but also its fantastic breakdown of the foundational exercises through photographs. This is a great starting point if you are interested in Kettlebells. However, if you plan on continuing with kettlebell training I would recommend that you get a quality 16kg kettlebell & purchase Pavel's DVD also named " The Russian Kettlebell Challenge " 5 stars (Join the kettlebell revolution!) - You have to try kettlebells to beli... Dragon Door Publications :: Physical fitness :: Physical education and training :: Muscle strength :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Health & Fitness :: Exercise :: Diet & He :: The Russian Kettlebell Challenge
5 stars (I'm amazed) - This stuff works! The guy says he will have us growing like weeds in no time, and he is RIGHT. I've made amazing gains in strength (and some in mass) by using principles found in this book. I'm a guy who has lifted weights for 15 years and had stagnated a long time ago. I thought I was a "hardgainer", and hardly had any results from my training after my first 2-3 years. This book finally changed that. A word of caution. The author recommends training very frequently, even several times at day (but never to failure). If you, like me, have been training every bodypart only once a week and you switch to Pavel-type training, I suggest you add volume GRADUALLY. Full of excitement I started benching 5 times a day immediately -- and I became severly overtrained and had to take a week off to recover. Ouch. (Now, Pavel doesn't recommend using the bench press. In fact, he only provides you with 2 (actually 3) excercises, but the principles he describes will work with ANY excercise. I have made HUGE gains in the bench and pull-ups using what I learned from this book.) A second word of caution. I found the book to be quite disorganized. It could definately use the work of a good editor. Yes, half the book is advertising, and the pages with usefull stuff contain so much repetition they could probably be reduced in half as well. I could have deducted a couple of stars because of these problems, but this book has GREAT information about how to get awesomly strong. And when it comes down to it that's all that matters. This is the book I wish I had read 15 years ago. Do yourself a favour and buy it. 3 stars (Lots of Hype. Good Program, though) - Pavel has some good stuff in this book. The book revolves around a simple, high tension, low volume, high frequency program involving two exercises and their variations. It's good, but it can be pretty much descibed in one page and detailed in five. What we get is a book chock full of marketing hype with a be... Dragon Door Publications :: Physical fitness :: Physical education and trainin :: Muscle strength :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness & Exercise :: Health & Fitness :: Exercise :: Diet & Hea :: Power to the People- - Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American
Barcode Software/ Health & Fitness & Exercise trial 
