Customer Reviews

Getting Stronger: Weight Training for Sports

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book contains very extensive collection of exercises depicted in simple, hand-drawn diagrammatic format. The author's experience is well portrayed in the form of consistent reasoning of building physical strength, avoiding injuries, and coping with adaptation to training.

The so many exercises listed in this book are described in very simple manner without detailed explanation of their anatomical or functional benefits. Thus, you have groups of exercises for the back, thighs, triceps, etc without any distinguishing criteria on which exercise should be chosen for a specific goal. The author only describes few levels of fitness (beginner, medium, and advanced) and assigns certain exercises to certain levels without explaining his disposition.

The author randomly assigns exercise routines to blue-color workers, white-color workers, swimmers, boxers, wrestlers, ...etc without any compelling reasoning other than his unquestionable self-confidence. When you see an author with huge arms and shoulders that exceed the size of his thighs (see the front cover photo) you wonder if Mr. Pearl realizes the danger of developing unbalanced musculoskeletal frame. How would his knees fare in lifting such disproportionately heavy upper body with disproportionately weak thighs? I would not trust Mr. Pearl to plan long-term training strategy other than merely "getting stronger" which might mean becoming unbalanced, stiff-jointed, and chair-bound.

All exercises in this book will help building muscular strength. However, they devoid of any full range floor-to-overhead lifting. The only floor-to-upright lifting is the deadlift and shoulder shrugs. The front squat exercises are faulty in the way the arms cross the chest to lie on opposite shoulders. The proper technique is to enhance wrist and shoulder range-of-motion without crisscrossing the forearms during front squat.

This excellent book has been around for years and is still one of the greatest resources anyone can use to increase their physical strength or just get in shape. There are really few books out there of this quality that one can really claim are "for everyone". This is one of them.

Pearl breaks it down for the reader. You can plan your exercises around which sport you want to improve at or which body parts you want to emphasize. Each exercise or series of exercises is also layered according to fitness level. A great resource for anyone.

I've used this book for fourteen years and have gone through a couple of them [one criticism is the paper cover- a hardback version would be excellent].

An excellent exercise and training resource: Highly recommended.

As a personal trainer I use this book as my bible. It includes nearly every imaginable way to work every major muscle group. It is well organized and easy to understand. Exercises are grouped by body part and cross indexed for specific sports and recreational activities. The proper form and breathing are described for each exercise. The only exercises that not are not included are functional training exercises such as Pilates and stability balls.

This book has tons of exercises. But there are a few unsafe exercises recommended for beginner programs like stiff-leg barbell good morning, stiff-leg dead-lift with the hands go down almost to the ankles, and various ab exercises with the barbell resting behind the neck. These exercises are bad for your lower back and most weight training books now stay away from those. But these exercises may be good if they are done without weight, or substituting the barbell with a broom.

But this book covers a lot of ground. It is an encyclopedia of execises, exercise routines, diet, etc. It also have many guest contributors like Bob Anderson on stretching and others for weight training for sports. But the execise programs for these sport specifics look almost the same.

Bill Pearl,who has been around for a long time, is a wise man. He appears to be sincere, safety conscious, and motivating.

But, I don't think that beginners should buy this as the only book. One should buy severals and makes her own judgement on what program is best to her.

This book is a mandatory book during my undergraduate Weight Tranining class and it's one of the books that I have kept all these years.
The specific and very graphical presentation for each excercise is very easy to follow and because several excercise working on the same muscle group are classified together at the end of the book (all the exercises are numbered and summarized), you could easily choose another exercise that suit you/your equipment better.
This is a perfect book for persons who have received some guidance (classes, training) before. If you start weight training from zero, although some programs are also presented inside this book and they can be easily followed, you may need some help from a real person to guide and tailor it for you.

IVE BEEN WORKING OUT FOR A LONG TIME NOW.ONE OF MY HOBBIES IS TO BUY BOOKS ON WORKING OUT I BOUGHT THIS BOOK AT A GARAGE SALE AND AT FIRST I DIDNT THINK IT WOULD BE ANY GOOD OR HELPFULL BUT I WAS WRONG THIS BOOK TOUCHES ON ALOT OF SUBJECTS IT HAS SPORTS TRAINING PROGRAMS SUCH AS WRESTLING ,FOOTBALL ETC IT HAS WELL ILLUSTRATED PICS ON HOW TO DO EACH EXERCISES IT TALKS ABOUT INJURIES THAT U CAN GET FROM WORKING OUT AND HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THEM IT ALSO TALKS ABOUT NUTRITION AND THE HISTORY OF BODYBUILDING,ITS VERY EASLY TO FOLLOW AND ITS A GOOD READ.SO TO ME NEXT TO ARNOLDS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MORDEN BODYBUILDING THIS IS A MUST HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET FIT AND ALSO IF YOUR TRAINING FOR SPORTS,SO CHECK THIS ONE OUT IT WELL WORTH IT

I started using this book as an out of shape over 55 female. While I still don't look like the pictures on the cover, I've developed strength, flexibility and lost inches. The book provides enough information for a beginner to confidently develop a weight training program from first basic exercises. The instructions are clear enough to avoid injury and the simple sample programs are good starting points. The information on equipment is invaluable. It makes weight training accessible to anyone who can read. I think my husband for giving it to me.

This is a great book. I've owned a bunch of body building books - this is the only one that has been consistently in my library. Bill Pearl has been Mr. Universe a few times, so he knows what he's talking about, ALSO despite that the book is presented in fun, down-to-earth tone it's filled with practical USEFULL information. (which is much more than I can say for the other books I've owned). He's also very carefull about his recommendations which adds credibility. Also Bill Pearl owns the most comprehensive collection of visual workout instructions (patters) - and uses them in this book - the clearest I've found to date.

Regardless of whatever books you buy, you should have this on-hand as a reference - it's value to your workout will far surpass the 15 or 16 bucks you'll spend on it.

Bill Pearl retired from professional bodybuilding after winning the Mr. Universe Contest for the fourth time in 1971 at 41 years of age. The weight training wisdom in this book is timeless. Although the illustrations are basic line drawings in black and white I found them to be more helpful and easier to follow than any other book on weight training. This book is well organized and quite complete at nearly 500 large (8.5" x 11") pages.

The book is roughly broken down into these chapters:

Table of Contents & Author's Introduction - Bill Pearl writes a short autobiography brimming with his experiences and love for sport of bodybuilding.

General Conditioning - This section explains a basic general conditioning program (3 examples are given), how to get started, and special considerations for women athletes. It includes a story of Gary Moran, who tried to skip his rest day between weight training days, and the weightlifting experiences of track and field champion, Mary Peters.

Bodybuilding - Programs for bodybuilders form beginning to competitive are explained here. Most of the programs are three-days a week. The competitive program is a rotates through all muscle groups in three days, repeats this three days and suggests a day of rest for the remaining day. Bill Pearl shares his own training program and closes with a series of cautions and stories.

Strength Training for Sports - This chapter begins with a very good explanation of sports training principles followed by cardiovascular training. Also included are weight training exercise programs for 22 different sports.

Exercises for Free Weights - This section includes over 100 pages of the most helpful weight training drawings of any book on the market broken down by muscle group. The book is worth its price based on this section alone.

Nautilus Machines

Electronic Gym

Stretching - This is a short chapter. I have found myself using Anderson's Stretching as complement to this book.

Fit for Work

Fit for Life - Bill and co-author Gary Moran, PhD. explore issues of childhood and old age in regard to weightlifting. It includes a special program for weightlifters over 50 years old.

Hardware - This chapter gives helpful hints for choosing a gym. He also compares free weights and various exercise machines.

Muscles

Injuries

Nutrition - This chapter deals with the macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) as well as other good advice on nutrition. Bill Pearl became a vegetarian at age 39, although he is not dogmatic about this to others. His insights into life as a vegetarian bodybuilder are quite good.

Drugs - Bill and Gary take a stand against steroids.

History - This section is a brief 18 page history from ancient times until the present (although mostly pre-1960).

I just bought a new gym and pulled my Getting Stronger paperback out of the attic. I kept this book because it is possibly the best all around reference on weight training I have ever read. This book has descriptions of weight training regimens for dozens of sports, general fitness, advanced bodybuilding, free weight Nautilus equipment and more. Includes sections on eating well, motivation, the anatomy of the muscle, and detailed descriptions of every exercise. Easily photocopied workouts are great for displaying in the home gym. As I read through the book again last night and was amazed on how thorough and easy-to-read this book is...it made me write my first Amazon.com review. I am glad to see the book is still in print.