Rating: 
Summary: Sam Fussell "Keeps it Real" throughout the whole book.
Review: Finally, someone who isn't afraid of telling the truth about what it takes to make it in bodybuilding. Fussell remains honest throughout the whole book and keeps nothing back. This is a must read and an eye-opener for anyone who wants to know what bodybuilders go through to win. I really appreciate the honesty that Fussell brings to bodybuilding through this book. He takes a no-holds barred approach...he tells it like it is, I ought to know I am a former competitor myself. He is right on! If you are a bodybuilder and you read this book...it may scare you to see the truth, you know the truth but you are in denial...it's true and I too, can indentify with 100% of Fussell's feelings. Does anyone know where Fussell is now? This book is an easy read and you'll finish it in no time. Order it!
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: I truly enjoyed Fussell's autobiographical account of how he took himself from a scrawny beanpole to a huge, ripped builder. I found the book so fascinating that I basically read it in one long sitting, and was disappointed when it was all over. Some of the antics in the book are very funny and others infuriating, but all of it is entertaining.
I do think Fussell paints an accurate picture of the bodybuilding scene, so I can find no fault with his writing. But as for the man himself, I just wanted to reach through the pages and shake the guy. Weight training can be a healthy, rewarding activity that can fit into one's overall lifestyle without dominating it. By the end of the book, you get the impression that anyone who lifts weights can have no life outside of his or her training, and I can tell you from experience that that's simply not true. For one thing, Fussell's training which consisted of 2 sessions for a total of 4 hours per day is, for most people, counterproductive at best, and just plain disastrous at worst. It's no wonder that he resorted to using steroids to make his training work--otherwise he'd have had no hope to progress. He could have trained twice per week, and gotten as good as or better results. Personally I've done a full body routine every 5 days and made my best gains. So weight training need not take over your whole life. Fussell's training was also an example of an unhealthy lifestyle in that he did not cardiovascular training to speak of, and had no social life outside of his weightlifting peers. It's no wonder that he had to leave the bodybuilding lifestyle behind. But Fussell's all-or-nothing thinking isn't necessary for most people. If Fussell had looked at weight training as part of an overall healthy lifestyle, rather than a retreat from the real world, he'd probably still be training today and would have a balanced life. Overall, this book shows how barren and depressing any hobby or lifestyle can be when taken to the point of obsession. It's not just weight training that this applies to. One could be equally consumed with collecting stamps or astronomy, and it would also be unhealthy. I look at this book as a cautionary tale that applies to all aspects of life, not just weight training.
Rating:
Summary: Weight lifters/anyone interested in fitness? Buy this book.
Review: If you have ever lifted weights and thought you were a SERIOUS LIFTER, you need to read this book. Muscle, by Samuel Wilson Fussell, is remarkable. Fussell, a graduate of Oxford, began lifting weights because he.......... Well, that is part of the story. I will not spoil it for you. Fussell did not just train with weights. He went nuts with weights. He also freely admits that he went nuts with steroids and supplements. FOOTNOTE: Fussell makes himself transparent and vulnerable in this book. He hides nothing. That really appeals to me as a reader. A quote from the book: To do "the right thing" means: "After his knee wrap, his walk, his talk, his ammonia intake, and his belt ritual, I nailed him twice with a closed fist and clean shots to the face. The result was a bloody nose, a black eye, and a successful lift." Another: "Or I was back in the bunker [where he lived with other serious lifters], gobbling my daily multivitamin packets. I took 6,666 percent of the daily minimum requirement of vitamin B2, 1,333 percent of E, 1,000 percent of C, and so on." In short, the book is a scream. But it is also a warning about the risks of using steroids and putting one's body what Fussell put his through. Again, Fussell hides nothing. He tells the reader: (1)how vicious his workouts were, (2)the incredible amount of steroids he took, (3)his 'roid rage (steroid rage), (4)his almost unbelievable diet to enter the 2 body-building events he entered, and (5)how he felt about the entire order. Buy Fussell's book and read it. You'll laugh. A lot. You will not be disappointed, and, as they say, "Truth [really] is stranger than fiction." Fussell could not have made this story up. It is too incredible; too outlandish; too bizarre to be a work of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly a fun romp through the world of bodybuilding
Review: This is a pretty entertaining read about a skinny, bookish, 20-something who transforms himself into a body builder. This autobiographical story takes place over the course of about a year as Fussell describes the transformation he makes and journeys from New York to Southern California in his quest to become a great body builder. The insights and largely self-depreciating comments on this transmation make it unique. Along the way, we meet all sorts of colorful characters, who will go to tremendous lengths for the slightest improvement in their physiques. Fussell realizes he is becoming one of them, and it is this final realization that leads to the book's conclusion. Fussell says a lot about the bodybuilding industry and about weight lifting, but it really its a book about people chaisng bodybuilding dream, and why they do it. What prevents me from giving it 5 stars is that Fussell seems to omit certain details and one suspects at times he is either embellishing the details, or isn't totally forthcoming with what actually happens. A romance with a female body builder starts, somewhat awkwardly, and then is quickly forgotten. If it really was so insignificant, you wonder why it was brought up in the first place. But there is certainly enough insight into what drives people to develop their bodies beyond all reason and enough entertainment value in the storytelling to make it a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Just buy it
Review: I thought the book was great. It's real life in your face. The reader is transported into the world of hardcore bodybuilding and back out again. It took me a while to get into this book but once immersed I couldn't put it down until I finished.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling...
Review: I loved this book since reading it for the first time one year ago. Since then I have re-read it several times, and never get tired of the story. It is easy to relate to the fears that drove Sam to take up bodybuilding. What is interesting is how those fears turned a well-bred, well-education, intelligent man in his mid-20s, into a an anti-social outcast among his friends and family. Bodybuilding is a great sport, and lifting weights is a healthy activity. But because of the author's psychological issues, he lets it become an unhealthy obsession. The author quits his job and takes up residence in a window-less concrete basement while training full-time New York. He comes to California, and associates with other obsessed with bodybuilding. These people include his training partner/steroid-dealer, a father-son team who train full-time at the gym while live out of their car, and a female bodybuilder with more testosterone in her body than most men. Sam shoots himself up with steroids, bullies people on the street, and competes in local competitions. In the end, his quick departure from the sport is consistent with someone who came to the sport only because he was trying to find himself. And after bodybuilding didn't provide all of life's answers to Sam's satisfaction, he moved on.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever Written
Review: When the author is presented with the shibboleth "who is the best bodybuilder?" Sam Fussell immediately replies "Arnold Schwarzenegger." Similarly, now when I am asked to name my favourite book, I immediately reply "Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder." Fussell's writing is as strong as his biceps, his characters are as well presented as his most-muscular crab, and his anecdotes are as amusing as his pain is real. In the final arena there will be no judges, only witnesses to the greatness of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Every lifter should read this
Review: This is a raw, fascinating journal-type account of a man's complete descent into the truly freaky extremes of competitive bodybuilding in the 1970s. No matter how much you know or think you know, there's bound to be something to shock you here. I pick this book up and reread passages often, for perspective, information and also pure entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: an engrossing read
Review: This book, more than any other I have read, really made me think about the transience of physical beauty, and how much wiser it is to invest your time and effort in less ephemeral disciplines.
Rating:
Summary: Bodybuilding for the Emotionally Sound
Review: Sam Fussell comes from a family of intellectuals (his father is the author/professor Paul Fussell) and it is not surprising that he appeared to be following in their footsteps. He graduated from Oxford University and then proceeded to get a job in New York before entering graduate school. What is surprising is the detour that he took. Living in New York and being accosted by street people and witnessing acts of violence had the rather predictable and understandable effect of instilling him with some fear; however, his fear appeared to be more consuming than in most people. Sam Fussell sought some way in which to conquer the fear. He considered the martial arts but nixed that idea after reasoning that he would actually have to fight in order to employ them. After happening into a bookstore the answer presented itself. Bodybuilding could create a hulking Samuel Fussell that anyone would think twice about before assaulting. The current Sam Fussell was ectomorphic at 6'4" and 170 or a 175 pounds and clearly not someone who intimidated steet toughs. Being a bookish sort, he purchased bodybuilding books and magazines before eventually getting a YMCA membership. He then started out using only the machines while marvelling at "Sweet Pea" and the other muscleheads who grunted, groaned and cursed their way through set after set of freeweight exercises. Diligently doing his circuit training routine and increasing his caloric consumption allowed Sam to make respectable progress, even gaining the attention of the behemoths on the other side of the gym. The story of his becoming a freeweight practitioner, initiated into the clique of weight-lifters at the Y and being taught such things as how to walk like a builder makes for entertaining reading. Even after achieving a body weight of 200 pounds, he finds that strangers are not properly cowed. This serves to fuel his desire to get massive. He brings large quantities of food to work and eats every few hours. His desk is filled with protein powder and his attitude to co-workers is less than cordial at times. No perceived slight goes unpunished with the new Sam Fussell. After one too many of such incidents, Sam is out of a job. He's alienated his non-bodybuilding friends and flabbergasted his parents. Sam becomes increasingly enmeshed in the bodybuilding lifestyle and even goes so far as to use a small inheritance to support himself. Sam eventually moves to the mecca of bodybuilding ---- southern California. There he meets still more interesting characters and begins, inevitably, using anabolic steroids. The photographic record of his transformation is astounding. He competes in a bench pressing competition and a bodybuilding contest. The harrowing tale of his pre-contest diet (e.g. not using Crest toothpaste because it's sodium content is too high) makes it easy to see why Sam came to his senses and stopped forthwith. Being ectomorphic like Sam and desiring to gain weight, I could sympathize with some of his motivation. On the other hand, his fear is another matter entirely. Granted, I don't live in NYC but I think it's pretty obvious that he had other issues besides being lanky. I have worked out, gained weight and made decent progress. I think he was on a similar path but no amount of bulk would tamp his fears. I would have liked to see Sam come to his senses and eventually lift weights again but in a more healthful and reasonable manner but much like the alcoholic who knows he must never drink again, Sam abandons weight training completely. I suppose this is only to be expected from someone who chose to lift weights not so much to build his body as to ease his mind. Samuel Fussell writes in an engaging manner and it's easy to get lost in this book. You need not be knowledgeable about the world of muscle to find this book engrossing. "Muscle" is not a bodybuilding how-to book. He does discuss particular routines, exercises and nutrition but those who think that it's primary aim is instructional in nature have missed the point. Lifting weights can be healthy and rewarding. Like anything, taken to an extreme it can be quite the opposite. Perhaps owing to my own bias, I don't view it as an anti-weightlifting book. The book may however be viewed as anti-professional bodybuilding. Professional bodybuilders are genetically above average and steroid drug users and this has been the case since at least the 1960s. There are an increasing number of natural contests but at the elite, big-money earning level drugs are omnipresent. For those who wish to lift weights, increase strength and add muscle, read this book as an entertaining and yet cautionary tale. Then go get a checkup, buy a good weight lifting book (e.g. author Stuart McRobert), eat correctly, get plenty of rest and be persistent. You will see progress physically. If, however, you are expecting healing for an unquiet mind, perhaps this book will show you the importance of looking elsewhere.
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