The Complete Book of Core Training [Paperback]

The basic premise of the book is conditioning the abdominal, low back, and hip muscles such that the whole body mass is stabilized during activity. That great idea is over inflated with the word "core" that the authors overuse redundantly and apply it to the mind, body, anatomy, and eating. The simple format of writing style, short chapters, and plenty of the authors' well tested advices, render the book invaluable source of information on effective fitness practice.

On the low side, the three hundred and fifty pages in this book would have been reasonably condensed into a 100 pages had the authors organized their thoughts and placed themselves on the readers' side. The first 17 chapters spanned over a hundred pages of non-sense talking. The idea of placing exercises at the end of the book, separated from the relevant text, is unwise choice. Many people seeking expedient engaging in generic fitness training could not afford the luxury of flipping pages to locate relevant exercises.

When the talking got serious, at page 106, and exercises started showing up, chaos also started. For example, the topic "Introduction to exercises" appears at pages 41, 155, and then at page 221. The authors seem to be at loss of where to put their exercises. Stretch exercises, strengthening exercises, endurance exercises, and complex exercises are intermixed in a haphazard and illogical fashion. A hundred or so pages after the "Introduction to Core Workout", there is the "Introduction to Core Routines", and then comes "Introduction to Exercises" on page 221. Although most of the book materials are based on personal experience and are fairly and reasonably argued, yet they lack concrete scientific support.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

I purchased about 10 books from Amazon on abs in order to compare them. This one is fairly big, but there is a lot of white space on every page (you're paying for all of it). It also has confusing lay-out so that it's hard to use. If you're interested to know how it compares with other books, my conclusions are below...

If You Want to Trim Your Waistline: You can't trim your waistline without losing fat, and you can't lose fat around your waist without losing it everywhere (focusing on a muscle group like the abdominal muscles doesn't burn fat in that location, just a little bit of fat from everywhere on the body). So, if you want to trim your waistline, skip the ab workout books and go with a good, proven overall weight loss and fitness book like Bill Phillips' Body for Life. The Abs Diet is a similar program, but like all the Men's Health publications, it advertises a 6-week transformation, which is just a little unrealistic. Plan on more like 12-24 weeks to see really noticeable changes if you are fat.

If You Want Sculpted Six-Pack Abs: If you are overweight at all, see above--you can't get a six pack while you're overweight, and you can't lose abdominal fat by doing an ab workout, so go for overall fitness. However, if you are already lean, see below.

If You Want to Strengthen or Build Your Ab Muscles: If you're trying to improve for work, play, or rehab, you might consider the following books: The Body Sculpting Bible for Abs Deluxe DVD Edition contains decently up-to-date information and tells you exactly what to do and when to do it, based on a six-week fitness course. If you're looking for a similar book with more information, you can choose from The Complete Book of Abs or The Complete Book of Core Training. The Complete Book of Abs (1998) is a little out of date in terms of its dietary/nutritional recommendations, but it focuses more on exercises that develop the external abdominal muscles (the ones you see in a six-pack), including lots of variations on leg lifts, bicycle motion, and sit-ups. It will also give you more resources for creating your own program, and, if that's what you want to do, go with this one instead of The Body Sculpting Bible. The Complete Book of Core Training (2006) focuses more on the functional body core, including internal abdominal muscles, legs, etc., and includes more trendy exercises using medicine balls, exercise balls, yoga, etc. A different sort of book is Stronger Abs and Back (1997), which was written before the current fad of selling "core training," but contains the elements of core training because it gives good functional sports-focused advice. Its dietary recommendations are out of date, but it recommends a 24-week workout plan, which is much more realistic than the 6-week plans advocated by many of the other books.

If You Have Back Pain: See your doctor, and if he prescribes abdominal/core strengthening, see above.

My one-book recommendation: Body for Life.
My two-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back.
My three-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back + The Complete Book of Abs.
My four-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back + The Complete Book of Abs + The Abs Diet.

Hope this helps!!

This book has great ab routines, although it took me a bit to organize them all into a workout. Its kinda like the authors threw all the pages of the book into the air, then glued them together and put a cover on it. However once you actually find the routines, they are good. Although I would get another strength training routine, one that may not have the best abodominal excercises and combine it with this book. The rest of the stuff in the book was usless to me, and most training routines, that I've seen, dont really have a great ab/core workout. Bottom line; you get the best for your core, and you can dump the rest.