Customer Reviews

Serious Strength Training-2nd Edition

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Good, accurate information - which is hard to find in the fitness field - but these guys are a little too enamored of bodybuilders and isolation exercises. They've spent too much time in the lab hooking up 'roided out booby builders to the EMG machine, not enough time with athletes from real sports who need real strength. They've written one too many articles for the muscle magazines (aka soft-core porn for the supermarket magazine racks.) Bodybuilding is not about strength, it's about size. It's hard to take a fitness writer seriously who associates with that drug-abusing crowd.

I have read and reviewed a number of books regarding strength training and bodybuilding. This book is by far the best among the ones I have read. It's a complete guide to strength training, and covers all aspects of the sport. It's easy to read and comprehend, well-organized, and uses a number of scientific (but practical) methods to improve the efficiency of the workout sessions.

Part 1 gives the background needed to plan effectively including a basic understanding of human body. Part 2 shows how to use "Periodized Workouts." And Part 3 gives detailed information about exercise, and nutrition. The Periodized Workouts bring variety to strength training making the workouts a lot more challenging and interesting for any level of strength trainers.

Overall, the book is near perfect. One area it can improve on is the nutrition and diet sections. The book gives recommendations on the amount of protein, carbs, fat, and total calories for each phase based on body weight. It would be useful if it would have also provided information on building an eating plan, food groups and their amount of carbs, proteins, fat, and calories (a great book on this subject is Power Eating by Susan M. Kleiner).

One point of caution: It takes time to build a Periodized strength training plan and discipline to adhere to it. I guess that's why the title is "SERIOUS Strength Training." If you don't have the time or the discipline, this is not the right book for you.

I was dissapointed. The book did a good job of explaining the principles of periodization, but that was about it. All the knowledge could easily be condensed into half as many pages. Not really a bad book, but I thought it would be more advanced than it was. If you buy it, remember that the weight reccomendations for the example routines are just that: reccomendations. It is more important that you adhere to the number of repetitions.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their training beyond the "muscle mag" mentality.It is thorough,and covers most aspects of training-diet,form,supplements.I have owned it for over a year,and refer to it all the time for modifications to my own workout.Money well spent in my book...

This book helped my go beyond my novice approach to weight lifting by providing simple, sound advice for getting the most out of a training phase. Other than diet, periodization has been the biggest key to moving past the "when will I ever grow" wall. Muscle Mags did not do it, Weider did not do it, I did it with the valuable direction of Tudor Bompa. Great Work!

I have read and reviewed a number of books regarding strength training and bodybuilding. This book is by far the best among the ones I have read. It's a complete guide to strength training, and covers all aspects of the sport. It's easy to read and comprehend, well-organized, and uses a number of scientific (but practical) methods to improve the efficiency of the workout sessions.

Part 1 gives the background needed to plan effectively including a basic understanding of human body. Part 2 shows how to use "Periodized Workouts." And Part 3 gives detailed information about exercise, and nutrition. The Periodized Workouts bring variety to strength training making the workouts a lot more challenging and interesting for any level of strength trainers.

Overall, the book is near perfect. One area it can improve on is the nutrition and diet sections. The book gives recommendations on the amount of protein, carbs, fat, and total calories for each phase based on body weight. It would be useful if it would have also provided information on building an eating plan, food groups and their amount of carbs, proteins, fat, and calories (a great book on this subject is Power Eating by Susan M. Kleiner).

One point of caution: It takes time to build a Periodized strength training plan and discipline to adhere to it. I guess that's why the title is "SERIOUS Strength Training." If you don't have the time or the discipline, this is not the right book for you.

This book is extremely useful for bodybuilders and strength trainers alike who want to use a periodized approach to their training. It allows you to design yearly programs to tailor to your needs and goals, whether its to lose weight, gain muscle, or increase maximum strength. There are six phases to maximize all aspects of the trainig continuum, but you don't necessarily need to employ each phase. If your goal is to increase muscle mass, you could focus on using the hypertrophy phases while using a maximum strength phase every so often. Also covered are nutrition, recovery techniques, and exercise presciptions and techniques. It does take some considerable time to design a personalized training program, but that has to be done if you truly want to reap the benefits of periodized training.

BOOK REVIEW:

People who are into serious bodybuilding might find this book very informative. It is packed with information such as charts and graphs showing anything from training guidelines to nutrition. In addition, it is filled with tips on how to train properly (i.e. how many sets and repititions to do, how long to rest between each set, etc.), how to lose weight, how to avoid injuries, etc. It also shows where specific muscles are can be found on the human body (the locations of biceps, triceps, deltoids, etc.).

For people who are looking for extensive workout tips (push-ups, bench presses, etc.), you won't find it here. All the workout tips are not covered until Chapter 11, and that's about it... only one chapter! People on the hunt for home exercise tips, forget it! The workout tips require the use gym equipment... The book assumes that you go to the gym to workout! The tips are basically useless for people who workout at home.

I only recommend this book for peple who want to know as much information as possible on how to train, and take care of their bodies.

The deadlift is not even listed in the index. The title of this book fooled me. Its not for powerlifters. Powerlifting is not even mentioned in the index.

This book is an excellent introduction and guide to the world of strength training. It contains a sound mix of scientific evidence, explained in laymen's terms, as well as practical advice I have not seen in other publications on this topic. The mix allows the reader to gain not only a plan for strength training, but an understanding to why he/she is doing what is prescribed. Also, the book is nice in that it provides a range of training options, from beginner to expert, and also depending on your ultimate goal (fitness vs competition). The book is also refreshingly realistic in that it continually expresses long term goals as the end point, not short term gains.