Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding

Rating:
Summary: Great for the bodybuilding type!!
Review: I have read many books on bodybuilding but none as informative as this. This combines nutrition, bodybuilding for the advanced and for the beginner. To make it simple, it was great!!

Rating:
Summary: Good book but beginner beware!
Review: I like the section on the history of bodybuilding. It shows how people went from being fat powerlifters to creating a cut physique. Most of these guys are big but don't have veins all over them, which is better than some of today's "champs." I have to commend Arnold for building a big but still proportionate body. Arnold's "beginner" programs will kill a beginner and may even stress an experienced bodybuilder into overtraining. Good book, lots of different exercises, good photos, interesting history.

Rating:
Summary: Great for a Beginner and a Advanced body builder
Review: I love this book. I have read many body building and fitness books but this one covers every thing. Evrything you need to know about any body part is in here. Arnold didn't hold back. It is very creative and makes you want to create a a training schedule for yourself. My brother and I actually fought over this book and it fell apart on us so I had to order a new one. I highly recommend this book to any person who wants to do weight lifting.

Rating:
Summary: Great for a Beginner and a Advanced body builder
Review: I love this book. I have read many body building and fitness books but this one covers every thing. Evrything you need to know about any body part is in here. Arnold didn't hold back. It is very creative and makes you want to create a a training schedule for yourself. My brother and I actually fought over this book and it fell apart on us so I had to order a new one. I highly recommend this book to any person who wants to do weight lifting.

Rating:
Summary: Outdated and not recommendable for begginers in weight train
Review: If you admire the Arnolds' phisyque and you have in mind to get huge and ripped as him then you'll surely buy this book. (As I did) But this book is outdated in various senses, nutrition is a very important subject in bodybuilding, and new research in this area like complements and other sources are not founded here. Neither the steroids /drugs subject is honestly approached. There are many holes hidden in this sport and they are not clarified in this book. This book strees, however, the importance of endeavor,courage,commitment and mental attitude and I think this is the most important contribution that you can take from this book and of course from the Arnold's teachings, but definitely these are not all the ingredients to become a PRO bodybuilder.

Rating:
Summary: Step-by-step teaching
Review: It's really an Encyclopedia offering information about everything for newcomers. It's written in a simple style. It contains information about positioning

Rating:
Summary: Very good, but imcomplete only because it is just one man...
Review: Many of the reviews for this book say either "it's the absolute best!" or that "it sucks!" But one thing to remember is that this is one man's point of view, even if it is one of the most reliable and respected points of view. As to the body building content of the book, it is excellent, although it contains some holes due to when it was written. (However, there is a new edition, revised and updated in hardcover, released this year.) This book provides a lot of inspiration and insight as well as instruction and information. The area of diet in the book is under-done, but again this is probably due to the time it was written, so I would suggest an extra source for diet and nutrition information, although most of the basics are covered at least somewhat. (Check out Franco Columbu's nutrition book.) The beginning bodybuilder may find it difficult to begin directly from this book, but then he says in the book to attach to someone who is more experienced, so that you don't get left in a sink or swim situation. Anyway, overall, this book is fairly excellent.

Rating:
Summary: He is the greatest!
Review: Many people will tend to argue about this book and how some things are no good, the pictures are great, this and that. We must really look at what this book is and was. when this book was written many of today's scientific principles in lifting were not even known. Also,in this time bodybuilding and even general fitness were not held in such a good light as now, they were considered freaks. I think that this book is great for the new enthusiast, one who wants to know some history of bodybuilding, and general fitness information. I am a certified personal trainer and think this book is great reading.

Rating:
Summary: He is the greatest!
Review: Many people will tend to argue about this book and how some things are no good, the pictures are great, this and that. We must really look at what this book is and was. when this book was written many of today's scientific principles in lifting were not even known. Also,in this time bodybuilding and even general fitness were not held in such a good light as now, they were considered freaks. I think that this book is great for the new enthusiast, one who wants to know some history of bodybuilding, and general fitness information. I am a certified personal trainer and think this book is great reading.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading information about weight training.
Review: Schwarzenegger ernestly believes in the material in this book; unfortunately, the information it provides represents gross overtraining for 99.9% of the population. The programs and routines contained in the book contain far too much work for the average person to properly recover and grow. Also, many of the exercise descriptions contain anatomically incorrect information. Some exercises are claimed to be able to work the "inner pectorals" or "lower biceps" (there is no such thing as either one of these imaginary concepts). Neither Schwarzenegger nor Dobbins are well-educated in the fields of anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, or exercise science--and it shows throughout the book. Nor do they have extensive hands-on experience of what bodybuilding methods work for the general population. The increasing popularity of periodization, high-intensity, abbreviated workouts, etc. has come about because of the lack of results experienced by legions of trainees using the methods advocated by Schwarzenegger and others. The sections on nutrition and supplementation contain information that is, at best, obsolete. Much has been discovered about sports nutrition that is not mentioned, most of the info is based on traditional nutritional protocols of bodybuilders in the 1970s. The information regarding the history of the sport is interesting, but if a useful training guide is what you're after, I would suggest looking elsewhere.