Rating: 
Summary: Martial Artist/Gym Manager Input
Review: I love this book. Its honest. I first read it ten years ago. It should be required reading for every kid who gets his first Y membership and every dumb ditz who thinks a guy with a freaky steroid body is "hot". I'm a martial artist (specializing in Judo and JuJitsu) and have been naturally lifting for fifteen years now, and I've known hundreds of steroid cheaters like Fussell. Guys don't start going to the gym with "noble competition" in mind. Their true motivation for getting huge is to be able to beat up or intimidate everyone they meet. Then they come to my combination dojo/gym. Then they find out that muscle without any fighting skill is useless. I invited a steroid rage-aholic to one of my classes to teach him a lesson in respect. I threw him around like a rag doll. I've personally witnessed 145 pound guys with only a few months of true martial arts training beat the hell out of 250 pound loudmouth body building bullies. I can totally relate to Fussell's story about the old man on the sidewalk who was getting beat up by some punk. The old man asked Fussell to hit the punk, but Fussell just stood there because he had never been in a fight. (Football players are in this same group too--next to none of them actually know how to fight. If one of them ever challenges you to a fight, take him up on it. A football player has always gotten his way thru intimidation and has never been in a real fight in his life. Sorry guys, but blocking somebody isn't the same as skillfully breaking someone's neck. He'll be so surprised you accepted his challenge he'll back down.) Anyway, get Fussell's book. And don't feel bad if all the guys, and a lot of the chicks, at the gym are bigger than you. I guarantee you they are on the juice. Take a reputable martial arts class and you'll soon be a hell of a lot tougher than any of them.
Rating:
Summary: MUSCLE: Confessions of an unlikely bodybuilder
Review: This is a great book, period. If you are into bodybuilding or just getting started, this is the right book. It analyzes the mind of a bodybuilder, they think diffrently and this book shows just how. It is sometimes like a comic strip with it's bodybuilding humor. It talks in depth about the dangers of anabolic steroids and ones own testimony and journal of what happened to him after taking the drugs, the physical and psyhcological effects. It is really a good book and you will not be disappointed in it.
Rating:
Summary: If you're a BUILDER you just HAVE to read this!!
Review: A book for builders, if you're not one, forget it, you wouldn't understand a word. Muscle is by far one of the best and most honest books about bodybuilding ever written. Beware though, it's not for the faint of heart, it's for hardcore bodybuilders only, those who undertake the pain of training on a constant basis and just LOVE it. Right after I finished it, I wrote another name on my list of idols such as Arnold, Yates, Draper, Columbu, Oliva .... Samuel Wilson Fussell...
Rating:
Summary: 80s America+Media+Glamourization+Fitness Craze Carnival ride
Review: Excellent Excellent Book!A Witty and positively Satirically-dimensionalized Carnivalesque tour-de-force of a Culture intended on HYper-realize itself despite the torrents of insecurity underneathe it. Fussell's narrative brings us along with the jutting-shoulders of the Economic-Plastic Effulgent Eighties, where the Media's doctrine of Commercialism and Craze-on-acquisitions to fill up the abyss of left from the insecure 70's. Here the mantra of "if 1 is good, then 10 is better" approach to steroid administration to stocks and shares, where greed is good, and self-repackaging hits an all time high ( and paradoxically, spiritual low). The Flourescent excesses of 80's fashion (where else in our historical period, would Jogging fleece be considered for usage as couture fabric??) Fussell takes us through his journey into the subterranean ( and often subversive ) world of the body-conscious, from steroids to stylish gyms. The Burlesque and the Burly, all dwell here, looking at fitness through a Carnival Mirror, this is a good if not spooky read. I do not wish to discount on the very real threat of Steroid abuse, but here is a time where Aids have no name, and nevertheless, everything looks as optimistic as the flourescent colour palette of choice. Read it to be educated. Fussell is candid and made no apologies nor hold any editorial punches in the dastardly pursuit of the "freaky Physique". He hints at the creative ways that some bodybuilders goes through to acquire funds to maintain their obsession...yes some sort of prostitution is in order, but the line blurs if you follow up with Bob Paris' "Gorilla Suit", where does the Physical Aspiration ends and the Prostitution begins? For all you folks who thinks that Bodybuilding is always and irrefutably a "fitness" sport...think again! Kudos to Fussell... now all we have to do is make sure he becomes a participant in a reality-TV show, and wait for him to write with his barbed wit an expos'e of the new obsession and 'frankenstein'ian abberrant creation of the millenium media!
Rating: 
Summary: Pumpin'
Review: I purchased this book after hearing Sam talk on a Sydney radio program back in 1991. It is still one of my favourite "biographies". I was so taken in by his honesty & humour that I immediately stopped what I was doing & went & got a signed copy! I lend this book to only my closest friends as it is such a personal account...of an unlikey bodybuilder. It is so easy to identify all the characters in the book for anyone who has ever tried to loose weight or put it on or been to a gym. What makes this book so real is the amazing photos of Sam...he HAS been through it ALL. Women are so conscious about their bodies it is great to read about a man who is sensitive & feels similar vulnerabilities. This book changed the way I looked at myself & my body. Sam's book shows that changing the way you look & feel about yourself shouldn't be about loud music, bum creeping outfits, pain & suffering. I have tears coming down my face ever time I read this book...it is so funny! It is also poignantly sad in its honesty. For a fun read into the world of glistening sweat & deathly competition Muscle is a great read.
Rating:
Summary: The "healthy" lifestyle exposed
Review: Sam Fussel's book exposes the so called "healthy" fitness and bodybuilding lifestyle for what it is. The author's frankness and honesty while revealing problems like drug use in bodybuilder are commendable. It is also pretty humorous reading. A very enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: INSPIRING BUT AT TIMES SAD
Review: Fussell's book is great work!Myself, I have been doing bodybuilding on and off for over 6 years and now as I am coming back to the gym after a layoff I find it highly inspiring. True, the author stops building in the end and has some bitterness about the world of bodybuilding, but still. You can almost feel the weights and the emotions Sam went trough. It is a great book as an autobiography also. It describes the world of hardcore lifting very autenthicly. I am waiting for a Bob Paris book, Gorilla suit. Let's see how it compares to this classic?
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous, engaging, fun
Review: If you lift weights at all, are trying to get in shape, or just want to know what it takes to get the fabulous bodies these guys have, this is a great book to read. I found it hard to put down. I laughed and sympathized all the way through, and was really moved at the end. I know what I'm willing to go through for the body I want, and I have to say it's not what Sam went through. Very worth reading. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A new take on "Muscle"
Review: Hi folks! Just wanted to let you know that the world premiere of "Muscle," a musical based on Mr. Fussell's book, will open in July at Pegasus Players in Chicago.
Rating: 
Summary: Articulate look at competitive bodybuilding rings true!
Review: An articulate, often funny look at the fanatical world of competitive bodybuilding. This account rings true. Anyone who is familiar with the bodybuilding world will instantly recognize the fanatical, driven, bizarre cast of gym rats in this book. Mostly young men who devote every waking moment and thought to packing muscle onto their bodies. They are willing to do whatever it takes to win. Steroid abuse is the norm. There are many bodybuilders who work out for the health benefits, would never take steriods, and keep their workouts in perspective. They are not represented in this book. Disillusioned, Fussell stops working out at the end of the book and never deals with the sane, common sense approach to weight training. But common sense and sanity do not sell many books and the fact that these men are steroid-driven fanatics is a large part of what makes this account so interesting. This book offers an accurate look into that world.
| 
