The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weight Training Illustrated (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: good book to start with
Review: Joe Glickman, one of the authors of this book, appears to have given the first edition of the book a glowing review on this site, unaware that his identity would be revealed ("I stumbled upon this book," blah blah). Anyhow.

I started weight training using this book, and advice from gym attendants at the gym I go to. I found it was more than sufficient to begin with. There was some bad advice in the first book that has since been corrected -- they've replaced the back extension machine (AKA herniator) with the back extension bench. And in this book there are some cautions that simply aren't true. For example, good mornings, stiff-legged deadlifts and bent rows aren't dangerous if you use good form and never use a weight you can't handle. There simply is no replacement for stiff-legged deadlifts or good mornings in strengthening the hip extensor system in a functional way, at least none that aren't as advanced or "dangerous" in nature.

My main beef with this book, however, is that it does not come clean about its bodybuilding bias. Everywhere the authors recommend 8-12 reps as the ideal. They could easily explain that different rep ranges are ideal for different purposes, and that the 8-12 range is NOT ideal for building strength or endurance, but rather for adding muscle, which is what bodybuilders want to do. If you practice a sport, you may actually want to develop strength while adding as little muscle as possible, in which case you would be aiming at reps in the 1-6 range; if endurance is your goal, as in much physiotherapy or corrective exercise, then reps in the 15-20 range should be your target.

The authors are dogmatic about the necessity of training to failure. Luckily that never made sense to me so from day one I didn't follow their advice, and I've made very good progress. Never but never do I aim to train to failure. Failure might occur, but it is not the target. The stress on the nervous system means extra recovery time and impedes strength development, even if it promotes muscle growth.

In general, the authors ignore the evidence that strength depends at least as much on neurological factors as on muscle growth. This is why they can so off-handedly dismiss the idea of functional strength, and believe, despite the evidence, that anything which makes a muscle bigger improves its function in the same way.

The book also perpetuates myths, like that you shouldn't squat below parallel. There's simply no credible evidence for it and people shouldn't be afraid of ass to the grass squats if they have good form (back NEVER rounded). In fact the stress on the knee is greatest precisely when the thighs are at parallel. Likewise, lunging with knee beyond the toe is not intrinsically dangerous. Nor are leg press or leg extensions intrinsically safer than squats -- in fact, there are many arguments for the opposite.

With these caveats, though, I can recommend this book as giving sound advice to start on a weight-training program. I've also looked at "Weight Training for Dummies" and it seems equally good. Sooner or later, though, if you're serious, you should read more credible sources on strength training theory, like Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning by Baechle and Earle; Supertraining by Mel Siff; or The Science and Practice of Strength Training, by Vladimir Zatsiorsky.