Complete Idiot's Guide to Weight Training

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Start, Proven Results
Review: After many years of doing very little exercise, I returned to the gym about a year ago. I purchased this book 3 months later and read it cover to cover, an enjoyable read. I continue to use the book as a reference to add additional and change exercises on a regular basis. Having followed some of the sample routines they provide, I can attest to a significant increase in strength and in general well-being. There are enough details and variations to satisfy someone just starting or getting more serious about lifting. I recommend this book - and thank the authors.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Start, Proven Results
Review: After many years of doing very little exercise, I returned to the gym about a year ago. I purchased this book 3 months later and read it cover to cover, an enjoyable read. I continue to use the book as a reference to add additional and change exercises on a regular basis. Having followed some of the sample routines they provide, I can attest to a significant increase in strength and in general well-being. There are enough details and variations to satisfy someone just starting or getting more serious about lifting. I recommend this book - and thank the authors.

Rating:
Summary: Honestly don't like it
Review: Before I start, let me say, I have fallen out of favor with the "For Idiot's" series of books. Does everything has to have a cute little subtitle? And the cute chapter titles make it hard to find what your looking for, what does hell is "on the Road Again" a chapter about? The series has such rigidity with regards to writing style and organization, it seems to encourage writing for the sake of writing.

What I didn't like about this book (I ended up throwing it out) was its apparent bias against free weights, and working out at home. Do the authors own their own gyms? The authors seems to have something to say about everything and yet nothing to say at the same time. Again everything in the book seems to be geared towards membership gyms and machines, and little effort is spent on weight training programs. In the end I was rather disgusted by it.

Rating:
Summary: Simple but true
Review: Having lifted for years, I was looking for a book to inspire my mother-in-law who has expressed an interested in weight training but seems intimidated by the "foreign-ness" of the gym scene. When I stumbled on this informative and surprisingly amusing book, I knew I'd found what I was looking for. While this book is clearly written for beginners -- picking a gym, basic technique, etc. -- it offers some good routines for experienced lifters and debunks various myths that you constantly hear in the gym like "I don't want to lift heavy weights because it will make me 'too big'." The illustrations are helpful and the prose easy to follow. If you've thought, "I've got to get back to the gym" or know someone who feels the same, check this book out.

Rating:
Summary: Simple but true
Review: Having lifted for years, I was looking for a book to inspire my mother-in-law who has expressed an interested in weight training but seems intimidated by the "foreign-ness" of the gym scene. When I stumbled on this informative and surprisingly amusing book, I knew I'd found what I was looking for. While this book is clearly written for beginners -- picking a gym, basic technique, etc. -- it offers some good routines for experienced lifters and debunks various myths that you constantly hear in the gym like "I don't want to lift heavy weights because it will make me 'too big'." The illustrations are helpful and the prose easy to follow. If you've thought, "I've got to get back to the gym" or know someone who feels the same, check this book out.

Rating:
Summary: Hold on to your copy!
Review: I find this book lends itself to everyone who comes into my home. It keeps getting borrowed. It is light and humorous reading yet extremely infomative. Fitness buffs rounding out their knowledge base and those hesitantly looking into beginning a weight- training regimen will find this book an enjoyable read and an informative resource. Just hold on to your copy......

Rating:
Summary: Hold on to your copy!
Review: I find this book lends itself to everyone who comes into my home. It keeps getting borrowed. It is light and humorous reading yet extremely infomative. Fitness buffs rounding out their knowledge base and those hesitantly looking into beginning a weight- training regimen will find this book an enjoyable read and an informative resource. Just hold on to your copy......

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful resource
Review: I got this for my husband who is build like a horse, very active, but entirely unatheletic. I wanted to work out again and he never had but wanted to try. He learned alot about how wieght training works and is thrilled with the results (say Arnold!. I still refer back to it regularly to update our workout. It is simple and has all the info you need to get started whether you have lifted before or not.

Rating:
Summary: Good book to have
Review: I had already started lifting weights when I got this book. It had a lot of helpful info, but it also had a *lot* of info. It is a terrific book for beginners and those looking for a lot of text definition.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent books for weight training beginners.
Review: I have been lifting for a couple years on and off, predominantly by myself and with minimal instruction. After finishing the book, gaps in my weight lifting knowledge that I had not known existed had been filled in. The authors came across as humble, self-effacing, genuinely helpful, and very human. The expressed human element helped to convey that weight lifting can be beneficial for everyone. Looking through the table of contents, a prospective buyer might be surprised that the specific weight lifting exercises are covered in the last half of the book. However, the first half is well worth the price of the book by itself, in my opinion, as it explains the ins and outs of proper nutrition, stretching, gym and gym equipment selection, and gym culture. The authors goals of instilling good habits, good technique, and proper mindfulness in weight lifting is well served.