Serious Strength Training

Rating:
Summary: I am confused...
Review: I am a beginner and already have a strength training program. I bought this book because I want to learn about year-round periodization, which can help to prevent exercise burn-out and injury. I think that this book gave me that guideline to design my own cycle. I am not interested in body building by the way.

This book is written for bodybuilders at three levels- absolute beginner, intermediate (1-2 years of experience), and advanced/professional. There are complete exercise programs, diet and supplements for each categories. The yearly periodization basically contains two half-year cycles. Each half year cycle has six phases but can be summed up with these four: 1)step-up, 2)hypertrophy, 3)strength, and 4)step-down.

For a beginner, this book is full of contrast. On one side, it has pictures of massive body builders pumping huge amount of weight, strict diet, and supplements, but on the other side, the exercise program is very gentle. For example, the program for the beginers cycles the load between 40% to 60% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM) for the whole year. This is very gentle comparing with that from the other beginner book. A popular introductory book has a six week appetizer at 60% of 1RM and then cycles between 60% and 85% for the main course, indefinitely. The authors of this book made you aware that the tendons and ligaments connecting the muscle tissues must be strengthened before exercising the muscles. They also emphasize the beginers should resist the temptation to copy the program for the advanced level.

The weight for the intermediate program is cycled between 50% and 80% of 1RM. This is equivalent to those from other beginner books. The weight for advanced program is between 50% to 95% of 1RM.

There are a lot of nice photos showing the exercices for free weights (barbells and dumbells) and machine. Since I exercise at home, I use free weights and I think that the list of exercises is quite complete. The selection of exercises is for bodybuilders with emphasis on the single-joint over multi-joint exercises.

The cycles are not hard to follow. The authors put in microcycles (variation within a week) where the repetitions and are increased slightly between days. You can simpifly these cycles a lot by ignoring these micros.

The reasons I give this book three stars are:

- There are no scientific evidence to lower the % of 1RM below 60%. I search for references listed in the back of the book and there are a lot of them, but most of them are on supplements. Based on what I read from other sources, the % of 1RM should be above 70%. My experience also shows that working with lower weight lowers my 1RM. In addition, for beginners it is not a good idea to perform 1RM determination, but at the same time the authors ask them to work at lower weight range.

- The idea of stepping 10% of 1RM between two workouts, i.e going from 40% to 50% is difficult to do. I still prefer the old progressive overloading with small weight addition. In the Mixed training cycle, there are jumps from 40% to 70% or 50% to 80% between two workouts. These are big jumps.

- Some of the cycles like anatomic adapatation and hypertrophy look the same to me. There is no logic to this division.

- There is the muscle definition cycle where one does high rep at lower weight. There is no scientific evidence for this neither.

In conclusion, book has a lot of information that conflict other reliable sources that I have been reading. But, this book gaves me the idea of splitting the year into two cycles, and I plan to use this with old progressive overloading.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book for Anyone: Entry-level to Advanced Athletes
Review: I have read and reviewed a number of books regarding strength training and bodybuilding. This book is by far the best among the ones I have read. It's a complete guide to strength training, and covers all aspects of the sport. It's easy to read and comprehend, well-organized, and uses a number of scientific (but practical) methods to improve the efficiency of the workout sessions.

Part 1 gives the background needed to plan effectively including a basic understanding of human body. Part 2 shows how to use "Periodized Workouts." And Part 3 gives detailed information about exercise, and nutrition. The Periodized Workouts bring variety to strength training making the workouts a lot more challenging and interesting for any level of strength trainers.

Overall, the book is near perfect. One area it can improve on is the nutrition and diet sections. The book gives recommendations on the amount of protein, carbs, fat, and total calories for each phase based on body weight. It would be useful if it would have also provided information on building an eating plan, food groups and their amount of carbs, proteins, fat, and calories (a great book on this subject is Power Eating by Susan M. Kleiner).

One point of caution: It takes time to build a Periodized strength training plan and discipline to adhere to it. I guess that's why the title is "SERIOUS Strength Training." If you don't have the time or the discipline, this is not the right book for you.

Rating:
Summary: You better be serious!
Review: There is a lot of information in this book. Maybe too much. Even though it says "Serious" in the title, the writers are trying to target everyone from beginners to professionals; they are trying to be all things to all people in all stages of strength training. In doing so, they have muddled the waters. They lose you (at least they did me) in all the definitions, classifications, descriptions, explanations, and reasons. Plus, they are promoting their products. (I guess I can't blame them for that.) It is not a bad book for those that are really serious about strength training. The information is there for those who are meticulous enough to extrapolate it and dedicated enough to put it t use. For those people, I give the book 4 ½ stars. For the rest of us who prefer a simpler, more straightforward approach to improving our bodies, there are better books out there.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Text!!!
Review: This book should be an essential text for any bodybuilder or strenth training enthusiast who wants a scientific plan that will get them bigger and stronger. Bompa's periodization for bodybuilders, Pasquale's metabolic diet and anabolic diet , Cornacchia's exercise selection studies, 1-RM charts, and an abundance of exercise physiology are all included for one cheap price! This book, is without a doubt, the best resistance training book I have ever read let alone bought. Keep in mind that upon a first reading of the book, you may seem confused as what to do and how to apply the information, but re-read it and you will understand quickly how you can set-up a great program that will take you to the limits of your genetic capabilities.

Rating:
Summary: I am confused...
Review: Unlike some people who reviewed this book and are more worried about who discovered "Periodizaion" than the actuall point behind the book I found it to contain good information about weight training and a recommended outline for a diet plan.

The book basically covers different periods of weight training and how to select the different periods and apply them to the goal you are after, building mass, gaining strength and so on. Its based off a 1RM / % scheme and gives example programs for each period. All lifters benefit from periodization but most do not have the patience to stick to the plan and see the results. Everyone wants instant results! Once you set up your plan it does not have to be adjusted for weeks and sometimes months.

The nutrition suggestions are basically just a an outline and a suggestion for the metabolically based approach-created by Maura Di Pasquale.

Overall I think it is a good book to simplify your training and to see the big picture which is you are not going to achieve your goals in a few weeks or a few months.