Bill Pearl's Keys to the Inner Universe

Rating:
Summary: Pearls of Wisdom
Review: Bill Pearl has put together an excellent book on bodybuilding. Peal is one of the few, very few who not only devloped a championship physique but has the talent to teach as well as evidenced by his many years of running a successful health club.Bill Pearl came out of retirement at age 41 to defeat Sergio Oliva, Frank Zane, Boyer Coe and Reg Park for his 4th NABBA Mr. Universe title.This guy knows a thing or two about reaching peak shape. This book has excellent illustrations and many variations. You will never get stale.I also recomend "Getting Stronger" by Pearl and Arnold's Encyclopedia.To the guy who threw this book in the garbage, your loss.

Rating:
Summary: First saw it in 1983
Review: I saw the book when I was in High School and compared to the other books back then it was huge and still is even now. I fight in No Holds Barred Tournaments and conditioning the body is definately No. 1 on the priority list. It's not so much as how many more NEW exercises are out there but how the ones that work are done and to be able effectively do it with perfect form. Adding higher reps and heavier weights to the form puts you in a different class. There are now other more advanced techniques but you only add that to what you are doing. You still have to know the basics before you can think to move with the best.

Rating:
Summary: Great book even for beginners
Review: I'm not a body builder unless you call that spare tire "body" so I was looking for a book with loads of exercises so I wouldn't get bored. This is that book. There are hundreds of well drawn excerises, orderd by muscle groups. Bill lists suggested routines for lightweights, advanced and pro programs. Each with a suggested number of reps and a reference to the page which describes the drill. What's great is that if he recommeds working out on a lat pull down, and if you don't have a Lat machine, just keep thumbing you'll see exercises with barbells, dumbbells etc. all of which work that set of muscles.

My only complaint is that I'm worried that advances in back medicine have made changes to workout routines so that injuries would be reduced since this book was published. So care should be taken in selecting the amount of weight one should lift for any given exercise. And perhaps a recent exercise book should be consulted in addition to this book. But on the other hand I've been doing the routines for a while and haven't felt this good in a long while.

The other bit that I like about this book is the attitude. Body building is also part attitude and you need a good one to go with those new muscles. Being kind to those you work out with is as important as doing the reps. The basics you know, treat the gym equipment well, don't show off at the gym. Do that at home (no worries with me!) So I recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: THis book is great for someone who may not have a wide variety of apparatus. This will help no matter what tools you have. The wide variety of perspectives helps no matter what level you are at.

Rating:
Summary: good book if you know what to expect
Review: This book is mostly illustrations of various exercises. It doesn't contain every conceivable exercise (for example, I couldn't find Romanian deadlifts), but it's pretty darn close. As another reviewer pointed out, a lot of space is "wasted" on showing multiple variations on the same exercise. I guess whether it's really a waste is a matter of opinion, but it does seem that perhaps some of that space could've been used to add more useful information. For example, his web site gives a detailed work out plan called '20 Months to a Champions Physique' whereas this book just gives just a few sample routines. Also, he doesn't talk at all about the Wieder Principles or advanced topics such as periodization. (Maybe he doesn't believe in any of those things.) The diet information in the book is only useful if you want to follow his example and become a vegetarian. There is also some common-sense advice on things like grooming and not showing off which I didn't find particularly useful, but I guess some people need to hear (there's one guy in the gym where I workout that stinks all the time). However, if you're looking for ideas for different exercise variations to make your workout more interesting, this is a good resource. I certainly don't plan to throw it out just because I think it could've been even better.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the money
Review: This is a tremendous book on weightlifting. If after reading his "junior" edition, Getting Stronger, the reader requires an in-depth encyclopedia to design his/her own weight lifting program, this tome is defintely it. It's well worth the price. The only drawback is that it is replete with grammatical and spelling errors, and it appears that Mr. Pearl didn't take the time to hire an editor prior to publication...but to be fair, I suppose that a fine literary read is not really the object here.

Rating:
Summary: Unlock The Door To The Body Of Your Dreams!
Review: This is quite likely the single best compendium of bodybuilding information ever released, written by a man who single-handedly conquered all the worlds of bodybuilding, and did so repeatedly over a thirty year period. From the early 1950s until the mid-1970s, Bill Pearl was never defeated in bodybuilding competition, and although he and Arnold Schwarzenegger never met in competition, Arnold considered Pearl (along with Reg Park of South Africa) one of the best bodybuilders of all time. For some of the younger bodybuilding enthusiasts, this book may seem a bit dated, but when one recognizes that Pearl built mass and incredible definition primarily through hard exercise and natural nutrition, without ever resorting to steroid use, one can appreciate what a giant he has been in the field. To date, no one else has even come close to his natural achievement.

Everything one needs to know to get huge and cut is here, from the basics to the nitty-gritty about what kind of gym atmosphere to be in search of, from the most sage advice going regarding the role of nutrition and vitamins in building a muscular and powerful physique. Since nothing is so important to the aspiring bodybuilder than information, it is important to know that everyone from the neophyte to more experienced muscle bomber will find everything he or she needs to cultivate the kind of body they dream of in this superb compendium and life story wrapped into a single volume.

Culled from a life time of experience and filled with personal anecdotes, this treasure trove of relevant information and wise advice will serve up all you need to know, from the best way to flare your quadriceps to the best way to widen your shoulders by bombing the lateral heads of the deltoids. Given all this, the book is both highly informative and quite inspirational, showcasing a number of favorite Pearl routines and using both photographs and drawings to illustrate correct exercise performance, useful training techniques, and the best way to both trim down or bulk up en route to the body of your dreams. Take a trip with Bill Pearl, one of the all time great of the game; you won't regret it! Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Ahhh...I Love this Book.
Review: What a great bodybuilding book. Bill Pearl created the "bible" of bodybuilding excercises. No one will admit it of course, but it seems nearly all other bodybuilding "how-to" books have borrowed from the master. Here's what he created: Over 640 pages of bodybuilding knowledge; mostly on excercise mechanics, with free-weights predominant (although machines WELL represented). Being a professional illustrator myself (bodybuilding is only my avocation), I can only praise the illustrator, Joan C. Pledger, for her OUTSTANDING line art illustrations of the incredibly numerous excercises. That job must have taken her forever. But it was worth it! Pearl has broken the book down into body-part sections (e.g., Shoulders, Back, Triceps, etc.) and given us every conceivable excercise possible. There are all the variations (i.e., similar excercise with barbell and then dumbbell). Excercises you never even knew existed. Trust me. If you had, YOU would have written this book. I've heard all the arguments ("Pearl was just bulking up the book with every excercise he could think of..."), but brother, that just misses the point. Here you have the one, the only source you'll ever need if you plan to bodybuild for any length of time at all. It's up to YOU to figure out which excercises to use. Don't have dumbbells? Not to worry...Pearl has a barbell excercise that will do just fine. Tired of the old Triceps Pushdown? No problem. Pick one of the MANY other triceps excercises, and get back to work. Pearl has succinct, cogent textual explanations of all the excercises, and he's even rated them by degree of difficulty. What more could anyone want? How can anyone complain about this masterpiece? I don't know...it's beyond me. I've owned it twice. Once in paperback when I was young (sniff), and now, again, in hardcover because I love it so much. Don't listen to the uninformed nincompoops who only recommend "their" excercises as being the "only" ones that produce results. Liberate yourself; listen to your own body; USE THE BOOK, and get results. If you're a bodybuilder and you haven't at least borrowed this book, you're really missing out.