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Rating: 
Summary: More of a nutritional book for bodybuilding
Review: Bottom line is, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY....if you are looking for a good bodybuilding exercise book without the nutrition stuff, you better stick with Arnold's Modern Bodybuilding Encyclopedia because you will be disappointed if you are looking for a good Joe Weider's training book ...I was not impressed with the muscles exercise section....only basic exercises are covered and they are described very vaguely....doesn't mention machine exercises at all....Weider Training techniques are covered very concisely....the nutritional section of the book is the strongest part of this book (a piece of work)...it covers everything from what to eat, when to eat and how to eat...very detailed guidelines on caloric and protein intakes per body weight, even tells you what foods to eat in order to lose or gain weight and build muscle with an astonishing detail...a complete overview of every single nutrient that your body produce and use to build muscles....it also covers all nutritional supplements out there in the market from vitamins, minerals and aminoacids.... If you are looking for a good nutritional reference to build muscles and strenght by eating correctly, this is the book you are looking for!....I guess bodybuilding nutritional books are so underrated that folks don't pay much attention to them...no wonder, this book sell at a bargain price...for what this book is worth, get it fast....this will make a good addition to your collection!
Rating:
Summary: Fair on nutrition and exercise, good on stretch
Review: I approached this book with reservation, because the front cover shows a young man (with hunched upper back) and a young woman, which gave me the feeling of some inexperienced folks having fun in writing without being serious. I paid $5.88 for the book after I enjoyed reading the nutrition and the stretch chapters and was convinced that the book format was simple. The authors do not claim to be licensed medical professionals but presented very extensive nutritional information, which might not be very perfect or even correct, yet extensive anyway. I was uncomfortable with the extensive list of references that was not cited duly when the authors offer opinions. The excessive length of the reference list indicates that the author is either exaggerating or disingenuous. However, these non-medical authors do not play the deceptive games of Dr. Atkin or Dr. Phil. They merely state what they believe with some air of naivety. For example, they use the term "good" for many medical conditions that are required for a fit person, such as: good heart rate, good muscle speed-strength, good muscle power, good bone health, etc. which lead one to believe that the authors are not in depth in medical knowledge. The authors coin the term "dynatrition" and define it in five steps, which do not serve any purpose other than inventing the wheels of nutrition anew. The authors are reasonable on the progressive planning of developing strength by training that starts by 2 to 7 sessions per week, on many months of incremental progression. They are also rational on prescribing modest dieting routines. The major drawback of their exercise strategy is the isolation approach. The photographs of exercises show a muscular man with stiff joints (cannot straighten elbows in shoulder press, cannot flex shoulders in front squat) and a proportionally fit woman with high flexibility and strength. The woman trainee does all the stretch exercises and the Power Clean with perfectly elevated shoulders (when the bar is shelved on the chest) while the male trainee does all the traumatic exercises with poor form and stiff posture. This trend (of women training wisely by balancing stretch, form, and overall performance versus guys training to gain size at the expense of flexibility and cardiaopulomnary fitness) constitues an epidemic in the strength training arena. Undoubtedly, this book is much better than "Body for Life" by Bill Phillips, although both books are structured similarly (a man and a woman trainees performing the exercises, both are young and overconfident in tackling specialized fields, both depict exercise figures in the same format of weight training of regional muscles without concern for compound exercises). Yet, this book ventures into the nutritional issues more aggressively and rationally.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and not for everyone
Review: I disagree with the reviews above. I feel this book is really confusing. Ive been weight training, on and off, for 7 years at least. Due to lack of progress and chronic shoulder injuries I was forced to rethink my training program and start from scratch; back to the basics. The book is basically split up as follows:
1) Basics: make up of muscles, stretching, Reps, Sets 2)Set programs A, B, C, D Starting with program A for beginners and ending with D for athletes. 3)Exercises: The above programs contain a number of recommended exercises done over a certain time period. this section explains how the exercises in the above programs are performed. 4)A whole section on nuitrtion: the basics, what kind of diet to maintain according to the type of sports youre in, and a bit about supplements. Now i personally had no problems till i reached the set programs section. Personally i was hoping the book would teach me how to tailor programs for my own needs. I was more than happy to do set programs, except for the fact that the book was very vague in a few areas. For example, how many sets should one do for each exercise performed. To say that athletes can do such and such number of sets and that beginners should do so and so isn't very helpful for someone trying to get back into training. Plus there is no real mention of whether or not one should incrementally increase weights from set to set. I mean does one stick to one workload weight or increase as one goes on in the same exercise? I don't know. This maybe a good book for some but it definitely left me more confused than I was to begin with. This is not a book that can be used to tailor your programs at all, which is what I was looking for. Out of fairness I cant say that the set programs don't work as I haven't tried them out. This is the first Weider book ive purchased and it hasn't given me a good first impression. And the only reason i gave this book a two star was because of the few bits of information here and there that i found useful. Definitely not for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: The Edge by Weider et al.
Review: This is an excellent work. It covers the basic weight training
exercises in the gym together with the nutritional dimension
involved in developing the body . For instance, the author
discusses alkalinizers to maintain pH/ (acid/base) balance.
In addition, he reviews the role of bioflavinoids, biotin,
bromelain (digestion) and Co Q 10-antioxidants. He describes
pertinent exercises for the head/neck (stretches), lower back
(extensions), mid-section (incline-sit-ups), bench press for
the chest and lateral pull-downs for the upper back. He
recommends slow inducers for insulin production; such as,
soy protein, peanuts, lentils, apples, yogurt and skim milk.
The work is a fairly complete rendition for maintaining
good health and muscle tone. This program may be best done
with the assistance of a personal trainer.
Rating:
Summary: A good mix of the basics with some important details
Review: This is one of the best books on fitness that I have read. Its definitely better than a lot of the books on the market. The book would be helpful to beginners, as well as those who have a long history of working out. The style of the book is written somewhat as a weightlifting by dummies approach, except in a much more professional way. Specifically, the authors stick to general issues in the text, which they then support with more complex details, such as issues relating to physiology, in grey boxes. For beginners, the detailed workout schedule may prove helpful. For advanced lifters, the discussions on different muscle groups (and how to improve muscle in those groups) is enlightening. The section on nutrition is very detailed and, quite frankly, a bit long. It was the only part of the book that I viewed as somewhat weak (they tried to outline diets and dietary supplements, which is a very difficult thing to do).
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: This is the book I've been waiting for! While the exercise component at the front of the book was a little elementary for me (I've been training for three years), the Dynatrition section provided answers to many many questions I've had, and in an easily digested manner. Wonderful.
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