Dumbbell Fitness: It's Amazing What a Dumbbell Can Do

Rating:
Summary: Very Disorganized - Don't Like Selection of Exercises
Review: As the owner of both this book and "The Great Dumbbell Handbook", I recommend the latter book, and strongly recommend against buying this book.

By my count, the main exercise description section of this book contains approximately 30 exercises, and the main exercise description section of "The Great Dumbbell Handbook" contains approximately 45 exercises. Some of the dumbbell exercises that I regularly do, such as the Shoulder Shrug, and the Deadlift (and more) are not included in this book.

The formatting of the exercise description section of this book is a disorganized mess. It's common for an exercise description to begin at the bottom of one page and continue on the next page, and sometimes there is a page turn in between the two sections. The photographs that accompany the exercises are poorly organized, and sometimes inappropriately placed.

As one example, the description of the Leg Curl starts in the middle of one page. Below the description of the Leg Curl are two photographs of Lunges. To view photographs of the Leg Curl, you have to turn the page.

As another example, the description of the Single-Dumbbell Triceps Extension begins at the bottom of one page. You turn the page, and at the top of the page are two photographs of the (double-dumbbell) Triceps Extension. Below the photographs of the (double-dumbbell) Triceps Extension is the rest of the description of the Single-Dumbbell Triceps Extension, and photos of that exercise.

Rather than being labeled by exercise name, the photographs are labeled by number, such as Figure 2-5, Figure 2-6, etc.

In at least one case, the photographs do not match the exercise. The photos that accompany the Seated Bent-Over Lateral Raise are of the Standing Bent-Over Lateral Raise. To make matters worse, the text states "Performing this exercise in a standing position places too much stress on the back." The end result is that the book contains two photographs of the unsafe-version of the exercise, and no photographs of the safe-version of the exercise.

In my opinion, compared to this book, "The Great Dumbbell Handbook" offers more exercises, better exercise descriptions, bigger and better exercise photographs, and vastly better organization and formatting. "The Great Dumbbell Handbook" even does a better job of discussing the pros and cons solid hexagon dumbbells versus adjustable dumbbells.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This book has workout routines for both beginners and advanced exercisers. The goal of the book is total fitness through strength, flexibility and cardio training.

The pluses of this book are:
- It has the seal of approval from Dr. Wayne Westcott who is an authority on high intensity training(HIT). Apparently, this author has worked with Westcott before and some influence is shown in the program design.
- It has three routines for beginners: one full body workout and two split routines. These can be done in 30 and 20 minutes, respectivley.
- It has twelve routines for advanced exercisers that use such techniques as repetition to failure, multi-set, superset, dropset, pre-exhaustion, negative rep., and force repetition. The dumbbell exercises are paired up with pull-up and dip exercises to work the back and chest.
- A dozen of stretching exercises for all muscle groups. This is rare for a weight training book.
- Small photos showing the positions of the exercises and the exercise list is quite complete. There are two photos that show poor forms (lunge(knee past toes) and tricep extension (excessive elbow flaring)), but the rest looks pretty good.
- A sample weekly exercise schedule that combines strength, cardio, and flexibility training.
- A guideline on eating to gain muscle and loose fat based on calorie counting and the food pyramid.

The reason that I subtract one star is that the author claims that this book is for home exercisers and all you need to buy is a set of adjustable dumbbells. This is not true. You have to buy a bench if you want to follow the beginner's program. If you want to fully follow the advanced program, you have to have equipment to do pull ups and dips. But without the pull up/dip station, you can still follow about 70% of the advanced program.

This book offers a sophisticate and time efficient program that you can grow with for many years to come.