Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat helpful but disappointing
Review: As a big fan of Bill Phillips and EAS I am unhappy to report that I was disappointed with this book. Most of the material is simply reprints of articles he has printed in his MUSCLE MEDIA magazine. For beginning bodybuilders who are experiencing Bill & his priciples for the first time this book may be useful. For anyone with a basic understanding of exercise this book provides nothing they don't already know.
Rating: 
Summary: "Body for Life" is well worth buying, and doing.
Review: There is one basic reason to buy this book - Bill Phillips' program works. Phillips takes the facts about fitness and physique transformation and puts them into a book that will help people to actually apply them. This is not a fad program. Indeed, the facts themselves aren't all brand new (truth rarely is), but they are certainly not well known to the average person: - The point of exercise is not so much to burn calories but to create sufficient "stress" to trigger an adaptation in the body. That requires intensity peaks within the workout (which is why runners improve by adding wind sprints).
- The greatest adaptation, and fastest results, come from combining aerobic activity and weight training.
- Most of the adaptation occurs during recovery, when the body recruits nutrients, improves metabolism, and rebuilds. If you want to understand, in simple terms, the biochemistry of all that, "Smart Exercise" by Covert Bailey is a good companion to this book. "Body for Life" is a practical, step-by-step program that gets those results quickly. Phillips includes an excellent section on the myths and facts of fitness, and a chapter on training principles, including an exact approach to achieving "high points" in both aerobic and weight workouts. There is a chapter on nutrition, to ensure that the nutrients to rebuild are actually present when they are needed (yes, Phillips recommends his Myoplex product, but as a meal replacement, which is great in my opinion). There is also a chapter on motivation, and a comprehensive guide to basic weight training, with lots of photos and tips. All well worth the price. One final note - a lot of the reviews here are disturbingly misleading. Focus on the ones from people who have actually walked the walk. Zig Ziglar once said "You can have everything in life you want by just helping enough other people get what they want". I've seen very few people who personify that philosophy more than Bill Phillips. And yes, I'm one of his enthusiastic customers.
Rating:
Summary: Tell me something I don't know!!
Review: Don't let 304 pages fool you, it is really 114 pages of BIG print, and the rest are questions and pictures of exercises. Save your money and have a friend or member of family tell you to exercise or lose weight, you just need someone else to motivate you. I give it 2 stars for those of you who do not have people to motivate you. I think I could have written a better book. It is one big pep talk.
Rating: 
Summary: This book could have been on third the size...
Review: This book could have fit into 100 pages. It would have been a hundered page book if you took out the EAS references and repeated information from the mighty Bill. Ever since I saw Bill on Oprah I knew his tune had changed.
Rating:
Summary: I tried Bill Phillips' in the past
Review: I've tried Bill Phillips techniques in the past and they didn't work for me. When I say they didn't work, I mean they didn't work better than any other basic exercise and nutrition routine based on the accepted basics (high protein quality foods and supplements and a well executed routine in the gym). I started getting into Bill's routines when a few guys at the gym said they were having some success with the program. Needless to say, all those guys don't use Bill Phillips anymore because we have realized that the simple exercies combined with quality foods simply work on their own. As far as EAS supplements I won't say they are bad but they are very overpriced. Your local healthfood store has supplements that are just as good yet cost less than half of EAS prices. Do a little research and you'll do fine. The only reason I'm giving it one star is because, although Bill claims different, the material in this book is not unique or special. Definately not the holy grail some other readers have painted this book to be.
Rating:
Summary: Absolut Success.
Review: If you know anything about this fitness industry, then you'll know how extraordinary thing this whole eas/muscle media .ie Bill Phillips thing is. Have you ever heard that 'musclem*g changed my life!' or... 'fl*x gave me more to live for'? I don't think you have. No one has. And as a matter of fact I just picked up one of these steroid mags at my gym and realised that there wasn't even a single article that I could have learned from! This mag was just filled with 'steroid alternative' ads and some stupid body building contest reviws(?!) I mean, who needs that? In contrast when I pick up a muscle media magazine I find it very informative and inspiring and I find information that is really useful for me. What comes to this book, I find this the same high quality as are all those muscle media magazine articles that I've been enjoying for years. If compared to other fitness/body building books, this is truly unique. Get it... for your life's sake.. and it will never be the same.
Rating:
Summary: Can't judge the book by its cover...
Review: ..because then all these reviews would be full five stars. I bet my bicep that all of you one star reviewers are in a baaad shape physically too. I say "physically too" because your mental fitness, or rather, the lack of it is evident. I would be willing to recieve your photographs just to prove my theory. Anyone that understands what real fitness is all about would never rate this book with one star, never. Maybe 4 or ever 3 stars, but never with just 1. And you know why? Because there is no question about it that this book is, if not the best on the market (which I think it is, based on the results), a lot above the "average" fitness book. What I think is behind all this putting down is jealosy, greed and just plain ignorance. The only problem (if you allow) is that Bill has convinced us too well with his techniques, because they really work, and it will be a h*** of a work to try and convince us otherwise. Especially when it shines through that you don't know what you are talking about.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent advise for the beginner to the experienced lifter.
Review: I competed in the 1998 Physique Transformation Challenge and I must say it changed my life. One of the hardest parts of getting ready to transform yourself is to find the proper information and applying it as well as becoming mentally prepared with pre-set goals. I accomplished this by reviewing many different sources of fitness, nutrition, and inspirational information found in Muscle Media and other sources. This book (and the tapes) incorporate all of this information in one convienent place. I am recommending this book to everyone who has asked me for training advise. Great job Bill! Scott Nelson 1998 PTC Experienced Fitness Champ
Rating:
Summary: [ Wanna do it the hard way? ]
Review: Reading these reviews that are criticising this book of 'basic weight training techniques', or 'basic exercises' I just wonder if the people that are writing these have any idea how right they really are. That's right, the book has very basic exercies methods, nothing complicated or facny. But one thing I think the people behind these reviews are not aware of is that this is the way exercising is supposed to be! Nothing complicated, nothing fancy, basic effective movements, and that's it. It's like you would criticise a car-repair book for giving you too 'simple' solutions, and that you would rather take the hard and ineffective way of repairing your car. Or criticising a piece of cleaning equipment for making the cleaning too easy and fast for you, and that you would rather do it the old way that you've used for 30 years. This book is -the- key to fitness with its simple and no-wannabe-tricks-to-show-off-in-the-gym techniques, I hope you enjoy it as much as I will.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your hard earned money on this book of eas ads
Review: Why did bill phillips write this book? 1. to sell eas product. 2. to congragulate himself 3. to let everyone know how "awesome" he is. People, you will find nothing new here as far as fitness training goes. I'll bet the five star reviews are from his staff.
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