Rating: 
Summary: Sensible strength training
Review: This book is great. No wacked out formulas, no insanity about TRAIN TO FAILURE YOU COWARD!!! and best of all no mixed messages. Overall this book contributed more to my understanding of strength and muscle than any other. I've also bought Russian Kettlebell Challenge and Relax Into Stretch. I can say, though the price may seem high, you definitely get what you pay for. The only reason it gets four stars is because I would like to see a little more diet info in it. Take care!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't listen to the naysayers. Buy it and Use it!
Review: Power to the People isn't too thin for the money. It's simply concise. It doesn't fill its pages with useless information, it says exactly what needs to be said. This book serves as a primer into the ways of strength training. After you read this book you'll have a far greater understanding of how strength is achieved without having to wade your way through the mist and muck of conventional fitness wisdom. A great deal of what you'll find in this book goes against what you'd read in the fitness magazines, but I'll guarantee you that you'll get better results from these teachings IF YOU APPLY THE PRINCIPLES CORRECTLY. Let's be honest, how many people follow along with those convential programs only to be left too sore to enjoy life and frustrated that they can't make progress? Then they assume that they're genetically inferior and just stop trying. Too many people are after a one size fits all program to fit all their needs, and even though Pavel provides a few examples of simple but effective, the real magic is in the knowledge and insight you gain into the reality of productive strength training.
In reality, the strongest people around are in agreement with Pavel's philosophy's on many key points. Take a look at Milo magazine or PowerliftingUSA sometime, or have a look at some of the writings of the old time strongmen who Pavel speaks so highly of. You'll recognize some of the same content. Power to the People gives you more than the content, though. It gives you a context to fit it all into.
From personal experience I can say that the changes I have experienced in my life since I began applying Pavel's principles have been dramatic. I'm a great deal stronger, healthier, leaner (if you want to know how to lose fat the Pavelized way check out The Russian Kettlebell Challenge. I've lost about 80lbs since I started "Pavelizing" last July, most of my weightloss came after Kettlebells) and more athletic than I was a year ago. Although I have 5 of Pavel's books, and I refer to all of them often, this one is still my favorite. When friends ask me how they can get the results I've gotten, this is the first book I loan them.
If you really want to be strong -really strong, not just "buff"- buy this book. Now!
Rating: 
Summary: Questionable Science
Review: The field of fitness is filled with pseudo-scientests long on theory and short, very short on empirical evidence, and in this regard Pavel sits at the head of the class. One of the first signs that the reader is about to encounter junk science in a book on fitness or exercise is the plethora of references to "scientific" studies performed at obscure research institutes that liberally depart from traditional scientific research (no double blind studies, etc), the complete lack of publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and the extrapolation of results for large populations from small samples (6 subjects, all wired to the gills on anabolic steroids, gained much muscle from using the Hee Haw training program). All of these traits could be found in abundance in the former Soviet Union.Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, a horde of modern Elmer Gantry's preaching exotic training theories have descended on the West. Pavel and his accomplices have managed to earn fortunes from the gullibility of Westerners who will believe anything they are told about fitness, so long as the label "former Soviet fitness secret" is attached. Pavel strangely enough never mentions the fact that the now defunct Soviet Union slammed their athletes with massive doses of performance enhancing drugs that allowed them to overwhelm athletes from other nations, and that their chemical aids had far more to do with their success than any training program. For those interested, US researchers Otto and Carpinelli reviewed over 40 peer-reviewed studies conducted to determine the optimal amount of exercise required for the stimulation of muscular strength and size. Surprise...almost all studies concluded that a single set, taken to failure, was all that was required to stimulate growth, and that additional sets did nothing to increase the growth response. Naturally this review goes unmetioned in Pavel's book. Reader beware.
Rating:
Summary: Your setting yourself up for injury
Review: Pavel sounds like he knows what he's talking about and maybe he does,he sure has plenty of scientific evidence to back it up.The book is a good read and tries to infer that most modern theories on weight trainning are outdated and incorrect, but don't buy it. Heck the guy doesn't even believe in warming up.Please don't learn the hard way like I did. According to Pavel you only need two exercises to reach physical nirvana. Hey Pavel you forgot to tell us we should have bullet-proof abs before we even consider Power to the People! Anyway I went through the program and it didn't take long before I sustained an injury at work. And I am positive beyond a shadow of a doubt that this never would have happened if I had never even heard of Pavel Tsatsouline. Now I am looking at months of rehab and I am in constant pain. Do yourself a favor and find another guru. If you won't listen to me make sure you warm up and your abs can more than support your spine before you even attempt this program Comrades. Otherwise find a good Orthopedic man and a Physical Therapist.
Rating: 
Summary: A good resource,but there are better for less bucks
Review: I enjoyed this book,but for $[money],I expected a little more beef,and a little less fluff.Good sections on deadlifting and stretching...
Rating:
Summary: Worth the Investment
Review: I have been intelligently training and with weights reading related materials for 15 years-- both to gain strength and size and perform better in sports. I still learned a great deal in this book which was also easy to read. This book was especially helpful in implementing a lifestyle workout program that I could implement without being burned out. Before this program, I would lift a lot of weight in the gym but go home and struggle carrying the groceries in because my program left me weak and depleted for days. Now I am invigorated by my workout and stronger with FUNCTIONAL, real world strength because of Power to the People. I also saw IMMEDIATE results in the gym. This book is appropriate for all levels--beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
Rating:
Summary: Power to the People
Review: The book has some very excellent concepts. However the important information within the book could have easily been edited down to a 20 page flyer. I guess Pavel would have a hard time selling a 20 page flyer for [the price].
Rating:
Summary: Overrated!
Review: Solid advice. but its really all on the first few pages. after 10 pages you pretty much get the whole concept!! and you pay thirty something dollars for it!!!!!! its like reading an article from a magazine like musclemag or something. well to me thats expensive for so little info.(pavel does write for a mag, and i believe its muscle media.. he gives way better info there!! but i am not sure if that is the mag .. there are alot of them!) if you really want a good read with solid advice about strength and MUSCLE. (if you want muscles this is not the book for you!) Read Mike Mentzer's book Heavy Duty one or 2. you get muscle and strength. A very good read. ( its also cheaper! ALOT more bang for the buck)
honestly i was expecting more from the book like many of you. after i was done in one evening... i did sell it to a friend. at least its got a good reSale value!! (for now)
the pro is that he keeps things very simple for you. many people do to much, but for the person who hates lifting weights. (like some of these karate guys who have reviewed this book, and believe they are getting an all around workout by doing only 2 exercises!!) and just wants to have o.k health... this book is not bad! even a ten year old would enjoy the comrad jokes pavel gives.
I am just so upset because i know pavel could do so much better! i know he will be coming out with more books because he has only scrached the surface! This comrad is very americanized, he is "all about the benjamins"
Rating:
Summary: Deceptively small book - backed with good info
Review: When I got this book I was a bit taken aback that it cost [so much] and was so thin. This lasted about 10 seconds until I opened the book and started reading. The book is full of very good information in a format that's very easy to read and implement. It also makes sense, unlike a bunch of other weightlifting books I have gathering dust on my shelves. Most other thicker weightlifting books are full of filler anyway. And have routines without much scientific merit. This book is full of science and full of choices. It makes recommendations and gives indications of the consequences and advantages of doing things differently. It also acknowledges that people have different bodies (there's a novel idea) and may react differently to different things. If I were to compare the value of the knowledge I have gotten out of this book with any other strength training book I own - this one wins hands down. This is about real strength.
Rating:
Summary: Practical advice that produces astounding results
Review: As a follow-up to my review from June of 2001: I still use the workout and techniques that Pavel recommends in "Power to the People" nearly two years after buying it, and I'm still getting stronger. Sure, some folks critisize Pavel because he charges $[money] for a paperback book, and he spends a number of pages in each book promoting his other books. But the bottom line is, his advice works...cheap for advice that you'll use the rest of your life.
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