Rating: 
Summary: Not what I wanted
Review: Do you want a book on exercises to do at home with minimal equipment- Than this book is for you!
In all other respects, I was disappointed. First, the author's failed attempt at humor is just that- failed. There is lacking information on using home gyms & equipment and actually a clear prejudice against them. The author also has a very skewed idea of what equipment actually costs.
I was also hoping for some more information on cardio as well as anything to do with nutrition or diet. There was absolutely no mention of the latter.
There is little information on how to create a training plan- just a few sample plans at the back of the book. This book is about 400 pages, and I think only 20 are useful and informative to me (and I'm not experienced at all with fitness)
At least the book was cheap, but I'm sure better guides are out there.
Rating: 
Summary: I bought this book for my husband
Review: I bought him this book and another one for me, but when it arrived, I was way more into it than he was. We had purchased a multi-station gym and this book has so many helpful excersizes that expanded on those that came with the manual. I wish we would have purchased this book before we bought anything. The language contains a little bit of machismo but other than that, this is a great books for ladies as well as the gents.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a decent book, but a little annoying
Review: I enjoyed this book for excerising ideas, but was pretty annoyed at the fact that this book has variations on excersizes without really discussing how each variation will affect your work out. Does it work a different muscle group? Who knows. I am glad I bought it, but I am definately on the market for another book.
Rating:
Summary: Changed my life!
Review: I had gained 40 pounds in the last 3 years and decided I needed to make changes and start a fitness program; however, being a busy professional, I always had excuses for not going to the gym. Plus, I was a newbie at weight training and was plain inefficient. That's why I got this book; I had no idea how great it would be for me.I have been using this book and a pair of 10 pounds dumbbells for the last six months 2-3 times a week and have lost 30 pounds, my waist went from a 39 to a 34, and I obviously gained muscles, especially at the chest and the shoulders. This book includes a lot of well described exercises (with good photos), for beginners and beyond, and with about any equipment you might have (actually for the first month, I had no dumbbells and used cans and softener bottles!). The variety of exercises also allows you to progress at your rhythm without getting bored. I now intend to get some additional equipment and start building my home gym, and this book provides great advices on the subject. If you want to start a fitness program and have no time to go to the gym, don't hesitate to get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: I purchased this book to help me better structure my home workouts. I learned a lot about how to exercise correctly (which I wasn't doing), and relied on the example routines in the book to get me started with a solid foundation (by building connective tissue and strengthening critical muscle groups). I've sinced used the many exercises in the book as a template to structure my own routine. I strongly recommend starting with the workouts in the back of the book, particularly the introductory ones that don't rely on weights or machines. You won't see specific results, but you'll feel better and keep from injuring yourself as you move along. I also recommend purchasing a swiss ball, chin-up bar and free weights as you progress - the swiss ball in particular is a great addition if you don't have the dedicated space for a bench. Overall, this is an excellent resource that will give you results if you stick to it and follow its advice. Also very funny at times, without being macho or misogynist.
Rating:
Summary: Better then the gym
Review: If there is anyone out there like me who ever felt that to get a good workout or a full workout was to get a membership at a gym and pay $40/mo. This book has it all. I never knew how to get a full body workout with just a bench, barbell and dumbbell. This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone that likes to workout. I plan on buying all my friends this book. Lots of pictures for each workout and lots of info to help put it all together.
Rating:
Summary: Better then the gym
Review: If there is anyone out there like me who ever felt that to get a good workout or a full workout was to get a membership at a gym and pay $40/mo. This book has it all. I never knew how to get a full body workout with just a bench, barbell and dumbbell. This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone that likes to workout. I plan on buying all my friends this book. Lots of pictures for each workout and lots of info to help put it all together.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Home Workout Book Available
Review: It's about time someone came up with a book that caters to the person who wants to get in shape and build muscle in the comfort of their home. The author explains there's no difference if you workout at a gym or at home, if you put in the effort, you'll get results. In the first part of the book, the muscles of the upper bodyand lower body are explained to youin easy to understand language and often quite humorous. Then, they explain the free weight equipment,dumbells, barbells, plates, benches, squatracks, powerracks, etc. Basically, what you have to spend and your fitness goals will determine which equipment you purchase. I don't agree with their opinion when they say buy an olympic 300 weight set. A regular non olympic set will do just as well. In my workout patio, I have a bench with leg curl-extension, incline, dip attachment, butterfly,preacher, and cable attachment. Also, a combination chin-bar and dip station and 2 barbells, 2 pairsof adjustable dumbells, an easy curl bar, hooks for the dumbells, aswissball, and over 400 lbs of weightplates. This book has excellent pictures of the exercises for the various bodyparts. Everything is easy to understand and tell's it like it is. There are sample routines for the beginner as well as the advanced trainers out there. The author also recommends using the sample workout logs in the book that you can photocopy.Working out at home has many advantages, no waiting, no egos, workout whenever you want, etc. Ifyou workout home, this is the bok for you.
Rating:
Summary: Solid, yet somewhat impractical
Review: There's only so much you can do at home working out. This book has no doubt exhausted every possible exercise one could even imagine doing at home. For example..ones I had never even thought of include the Swiss-Ball Preacher Curl, Neider Press, Bulgarian Split Squat, and Towel Curl to name a few.
Just how practical these are, however, for actually engendering substantial muscle gains is questionable. The book also makes extensive reference to a plethora of cable exercises when, let's face it, most people do not have cable weights in their home gym. Overall, a solid reference, but not overly practical.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent with a few flaws
Review: This book gets high marks for making explicit what its goal is -- home workouts -- and then delivering on that. While the focus is on home workouts, it offers enough information to be useful as your primary workout book, regardless of venue. The authors offer divide the exercises into major sections, depending on what kind of equipment you have at your disposal: no weights at all (i.e. use bodyweight only and makeshift weights from things found around the house), dumbbells, barbells, and exercise machine. This is great because it makes it easy to come up with a temporary workout plan for that week you're on vacation and don't have access to your normal equipment. They tell you how to create a workout plan, taking full advantage of periodization. They include tons of exercises for you to pick from when constructing your plan. If you don't feel up to creating your own plan they offer several pre-made ones with different focuses. It isn't perfect, however, there is certainly room for improvement. When discussing individual exercises I wish they did a better job of showing how the variations affect what parts of the muscle are exercised. For instance, I think that hammer curls are supposed to work your biceps differently than standard curls but there is no mention of that kind of thing in most exercises. That inclusion would make constructing your own work out routines even easier. The structure of the book leaves a little to be desired as well. It felt that some things -- like whether to work to failure -- aren't introduced as early as they should be. The result is you really should read (or at least skim) the book from cover to cover before setting out. A little bit tighter structure would make it easier to just skip to the section you care about. There is also not much mention of supplements although given the somewhat controversial nature of their efficacy and the target of the book (I would guess that people who workout at home are somewhat less hard-core than those who go to a gym) it is understandable. Overall, though, this is an excellent resource. It has both breadth and depth, making it a great single-volume resource on working out.
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