Cardio Strength Training: Torch Fat, Build Muscle, and Get Stronger Faster [Paperback]

The book is packed with info that will work to help get you in the best shape of your life without spending hours in the gym. These are proven principles. The publisher should have taken more time to proof read the book. It is filled with errors. One exercise with description has pictures of a different exercise, there are other parts that are made confusing because the wrong word is used (40:20 Timed Intervals is listed in one part as 40 seconds work: 20 seconds of work. It should be 40 seconds work: 20 seconds rest.) If you have some workout experience it is not a problem, but a beginner could be easily confused in some areas. The book apparently came out a few weeks earlier than had been planned. It looks like it was rushed for release before Christmas. They should have taken the extra time to correct the errors. Still overall a great exercise book that everybody can benefit from. You could use the info from the book to create effective workouts for a long time.

I will confirm that the book has some errors. So yeah, shame on the publisher for making Coach Dos look like a dweeb. If it were up to me I would make the publishers do 100 complexes of elevated push up with jumping dumbbell burpees for every error they made. That'll pump some blood and improve their brain function :)

If you are an experienced lifter, the errors can easily be overlooked (they're almost negligible, to be honest). If you are a newbie, I would highly recommend that you join the Coach's forum on [...] . Even if you are an experienced lifter you should also join. There are lots of great info on his forum. He is also one heck of great guy, always willing to answer questions even if they are multiple repeats.

Anyway, aside from the errors (again not the Coach's fault), I still give the info contained within this book a five star for the following reasons:

A) The book is easy to follow. It has different levels, catered to the individual's fitness level. The book has many suggestions for beginner, intermediate and advanced trainee. NO cookie cutter, one-size fits all approach here.
B) The reasoning behind the book's methods of zapping fat is backed up with solid science. It's NOT some cult-fit (**cough** I mean crossfit) "slap-a-roo" garbage that make you do meaningless stuff just for the sake of doing meaningless stuff. CST is based on solid science.
C) It's a stand alone program. If your primary goal is to lose fat, this book is all you need. Although I would still recommend Men's Health Power Training because once you become lean thru CST, you would want to do other protocol to keep improving.

Alright, as far as my real-world experience with this stuff: I performed CST protocol on one of my days off from Power Training. It only took me 15 minutes to do the workout. I am a pretty experienced lifter, so I followed an advanced suggestion. Fifteen minutes later, I looked at my heart rate monitor and it registered at 101%. That's right, over one hundred percent. If I were not athletic, my heart would probably have blown out. I'm not saying this to scare you. I am sharing my experience to inform you that Coach Dos' program IS THAT INTENSE! In fact, I did CST at 5:00 AM and that very same day during break time at 10:00 AM I went to my company's health and wellness coach to measure my blood pressure. BP was normal. But she panicked when she measured my heart rate at 90 BPM! I tried to explain to the wellness coach that it was probably high due to the "afterburn" affect of CST which I did 5 hours earlier. Talk about intensity!

Another story I would like to share. I am a part-time personal trainer. My brother-in-law asked me to give him a good cardio program. I told him to meet me at the house on Tuesday night at 6:30 PM. Come around 6:50 PM he came literally close to vomiting. I kid you not! And I only gave him a beginner protocol.

Guys and gals, forget low intensity steady state on the elliptical or treadmill. If you are not a gym member and you would much rather workout in your basement, that is perfectly fine. I would suggest that you save your money on a good heart rate monitor, some kettlebells, dumbbells, and / or Olympic barbell, follow this program and watch your fat melt right off. If you are already a gym member, that's great too! Just go to the corner of your gym's massive "cardio room" full of worthless LISS equipment and do CST. People on treadmill and elliptical will stare at you. Let them, because they (and you) will literally see the fat melt off in no time (just as long as you nutritional intake is in check - remember you still have to create caloric deficit).

The book basically has the following protocols:

o Complex
o Density Training
o Timed Interval
o Tabata

All you need is no more than 20 minutes. It is not easy. It's not supposed to be. If it were easy, the US of A would not have an obese pandemic.

Good luck. You will need it as you cross the treshold of death! Ha ha ha.

As a certified hard-style Kettlebell instructor, student-athlete / personal trainer, and aspiring strength coach, I very much looked forward to reading this book. When it comes to the meat of the text I was not disappointed--the information provided is practical, pragmatic, and seemingly effective. I enjoyed reading it more than Kenneth Jay's Viking Warrior Conditioning, but obviously a text as this is not as comprehensive as a tome like Coach Boyle's Advances in Functional Training or Gray Cook's Athletic Body in Balance. Nor does it need to be--the book drills into the specifics of "cardio strength training" and details how and when to apply these techniques.

While the text of the book was generally well done, the Kettlebell form is fairly poor, and many of the exercises (KB or bodyweight) are often not described very well. For example, a pushup is described as "These are standard, full range-of-motion pushups"--not very helpful for coaches or advanced athletes always looking to improve their form. The kettlebell swing is taught as the squat-style swing, which many Kettlebell instructors feel is much more dangerous than the moving deadlift-style swing. The push press kettlebell pictures don't make sense--why is the clean so far away from the body, and note how the fitness model lets his wrist collapse as he demonstrates the windmill. This is highly unsafe!!

I performed the advanced Kettlebell complex using double 12kg 'bells the day after I bought the book, and Coach Dos was right, this is tough stuff! However, double kettlebell work is fairly advanced, and there is simply not enough explanation in the text to easily progress to these lifts. I wish Coach Dos had consulted with a KB expert or two to write a chapter/section specifically on KB lifting, as he has done for BBs in his previous Power Training book.

If the next edition were to have kettlebell drills demonstrated by a certified instructor, I would then highly recommend this book and give it five stars. Double kettlebell lift complexes done with poor form? No thanks. For DB and BB practitioners, this book is great, but for Kettlebell lifters, you need to read between the lines, even if you have attended multiple high-level Kettlebell certification and training programs as I have, and done all of the Kettlebell lifts described prior to reading the book.

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