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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: After digging through piles of books at the library about weight lifting we finally come upon this one and immediately went out and purchased our own copy...This book is *excellent* for those beginning weight training. It's explanations of things are down-to-earth and simplified without being "dummy-fied".
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Summary: Great book for beginner but...
Review: I agree with other reviewers that this is a great starting place for beginners. Some of the highlights that others didnot mentioned are: - It is written by two college professors of kinesiology. The format is written like a lab book for a college weight training course. It is geared toward strength training rather than body building. - It covers the science of weight training and basic nutrition based on the food pyramid. - It emphasizes multi-joint exercises using barbell or the universal weight machine. The program is very simple and no non-sense. - It teaches from basic technique like how to pick up weight off the floor to advanced technique like how to determine one repetition maximum (1RM). It also teaches you various variables like intensity (weight), volume (number of sets), rest time, etc... on the results of the training. - It has a 6-week introductory cycle where one works at 60% of 1RM for one to three sets, followed by 7-week cycles where one works between 60% to 85% of 1RM for two to five sets. - I have seen books written by Bill Pearl, Anorld the Governator, and Men's health (Wolf, Schuler, and King). They seem to miss the point- it is the weight used and less on the exercises performed that matters. These books have lots of exercises, but none suggests the starting weight as well as how much weight to increase. But this book helps you to determine the starting weight and suggests overloading in a safe manner. But, this program is not to be followed for year-round weight training based on my experience because it is too agressive. it could lead to overtraining or injury. One way to safely use this book is to pretend that one is taking a weight training class at a local community college. There are two 18-week semesters in a year- fall and spring. For each semester, one would do the 6-week introductory cycle and two 7-week cycles. Other times like the semester break or the summer session, one should let the body rests.
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Summary: Learn To Design Your Own Weight Training Programs
Review: I'm fortunate to have a brother with a master's degree in exercise science and a lot of experience in strength training, as he's always designed my weight training programs for me. But being the self-reliant kind of person that I am, and not wanting to impose too much on my brother's time, I asked him to tell me what one book he would recommend to someone who wanted to learn how to design their own weight training program. He immediately recommended Weight Training Steps to Success. After reading this book, I understand why he recommended it so highly. The authors first explain the physiology behind weight training and give a detailed orientation on weight training equipment. They then take you step-by-step through learning a basic weight training program, choosing appropriate exercises for each major muscle group. They place great emphasis on taking things slowly and learning proper form for all the exercises before tackling heavier weights for training. The steps for performing each exercise are clear and detailed, and they provide a simple procedure for you to determine with what weight you should start training for each exercise. After you have mastered the basic training program, they move on to discussing how to design your own training program based on your specific goals (strength, endurance, hypertrophy, or a combination). Their coverage of periodization is the most simple and practical I've ever seen, and it is one of the major reasons my brother recommended this book. I had some experience with weight training before reading Weight Training Steps to Success, but I had just been doing what I had been told, not really knowing why I was doing what I was doing. I certainly didn't know what to do next after I had reached a certain point. Now I know the whys and hows, and will be able to design my own training program as I continue to progress. This book is also perfect for the absolute weight training beginner, as it assumes no knowledge or experience whatsoever. In short, this book is the perfect place to start if you want to learn how to design your own weight training program.
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Summary: For once I don't feel lost reading a weight training book
Review: There are sites springing up all over the web that will design a weight training program for you. If you're like me, though, you like to do things yourself -- not becuase you can necesarily do it better, but because you want to learn how. This book teaches you how to design your own program. In a series of 12 steps, you will learn the basics of equipment, exercises, program design, etc. You start with a total body routine that you will do three days a week for 4-6 weeks. Then, you design your own program. You'll decide how many exercises per body part, how many reps, sets, days -- everything. That's what's so gret about this book -- the customability (is that a word?). This book is aimed for beginners, but persons with a more advanced background with weights could get some use out of it as well. One gripe I have is that there are not enough exercises listed for you to chose from once you get to steps 10-12. By that time, though, you probably have spent enough time in the gym to learn some others. Also, there are no exercises presented that use dumbells instead of barbells. Many experts think beginners should use barbells, but I prefer dumbells since I usually workout alone without a spotter. This is definitely the right book for someone who wants to do more than simply copy others he or she sees in the gym.
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