Customer Reviews

Bodybuilding a Realistic Approach: How You Can Have a Great Body

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I am a complete beginner to lifting weights--just started a month or two ago to look more attractive to women. I was looking for a basic introduction to weight training that was easily understood, down-to-earth, no BS, and no gimmicks, just hard work and discipline. I found exactly that in this book! Mr. Melfa writes with clarity and precision describing different exercises, about how to achieve different goals, nutrition and eating habits, stretching, posing, contests and more. Aside from the clear description of different exercises, I think what I have found most helpful in this book is Mr. Melfa's knowledge and experience regarding which specific exercises one should perform to meet one's goals (such as muscle size), how often, how many sets and how many reps. I also appreciate his comments about which exercises are most effective for different muscle groups. I think this book is ideal for a novice like myself but it also seems like it would be helpful to an experienced body builder who wanted more guidance and advice about nutrition, food, posing and contests. One more thing: I had an important personal question about my own wieght training which my lifting-buddy wasn't sure about. I e-mailed Frank Melfa on his AOL address listed here and got a VERY helpful and warm reply THE NEXT DAY! His personal advice was very worthwhile and exactly what I needed to know. THANKS FRANK!

A little about me before I delve into the review. Before I bought this book, I never was into fitness ever in my life. I thought people who ran every day were crazy and that lifting weights was for athletes. When I graduated high school in 1993 I was probably about 180. I stepped on a scale in April of 2000 and I weighed in at 240 which was the largest I had ever been (I am 5' 11"). It finally dawned on me that I was fat and really had to do something about it or my health would be seriously compromised, but I had no idea how to start.

I mainly bought this book because lifting weights seemed like the 'guy' way to lose weight and I absolutely hated aerobic excercise(which I do regularly now). Thus, I bought a book on weight lifting that was rated highly on Amazon.

The best thing about this book is that it is highly motivational and it is an easy read. I probably finished it in 2 days after I bought it. I could scarcely put it down. He got me really excited about exercise and made me believe that I could lose the weight, and motivation is a big chunk of the battle.

As far as the weight lifting goes he does a great job. I had some esteem issues because of the weight and am naturally a pretty shy person anyway. I could never get myself to sign up for a class to teach me how to use the equipment or free weights. Because of this book I never had to. His pictures and descriptions of how to do the exercises properly were excellent. He also covers how to work out for a wide variety of fitness levels and schedules.

Beyond weight lifting he really covers all the bases for people who need to lose more weight. His nutrition advice and suggestions for aerobic activity were in general good.

There are a couple minor that I would like to see added to the book. He recommends 3 sessions of aerobic activity for 30 minutes each per week. This is probably enough for cardiovascular fitness and for someone who is just starting out(this it what I did when I started) and needs to get in shape. If you want to lose weight faster, more certainly helps provided you can handle it. Once I was in better shape, I gradually increased my regemin to 5 or 6 sessions of 45 to 60 minutes each per week along with my strength training.

He recommends only 10% of your diet to be from fat. I am not saying you should go overboard on fat and if you can do it, that's fine, but for people like me 30% is probably that maximum you should shoot for. I think a 10% restriction is probably suited better for professional bodybuilders and athletes. For someone who is really trying to lose weight, fat is your friend because it is more satisfying and the key, for me anyway, to not overeating is to not feel starved -- not overeating is much more important than not eating fat. If I don't eat enough fat I will feel hungry and that is a recipe for overeating -- a sustainable diet is one that is satisfying but not excessive. A bodybuilder on the other hand has to eat a lot of food to really build big muscles and consequently should probably lower their fat intake.

Really these points are very minor though and I think this book is great for its motivation and content. It also seems to provide a lot of content useful to more skilled people, but my perspective is one of a beginner.

Anyway 11 months later I am about 45 pounds lighter (and still losing) and have gained quite a bit of lean muscle mass to increase my metabolism. I feel great, look better, and have much more confidence! This is the book that got me on the right track.

Supplements, gym memberships and exercise equipment are expensive. Before you spend any more money on these things, buy this book!

I've lifted weights off and on throughout the years, but never got the results I was wanting. After I read Frank Melfa's book, I realized that a lot of my sets, technique, diet and exercises were wrong. Now I've been able to gain 9 pounds of muscle, for the first time. Even people at work have noticed the difference.

There is so much info packed into this book, there's no way you can learn it all in one reading. I find myself referring to it often, even after owning it for 5 months. I even copied the exercise regiments on posterboard and hung it up in my basement-gym so they're easier to refer to.

I've completely changed the way I eat. I was shocked to learn that I wasn't consuming nearly enough calories to gain muscle. Frank recommends logging food intake as well as exercises. This is hard at first, but well worth the effort. I also enter my weight, calorie intake, and carbs-protien-fat intake into a graph to see what trends are developing. Of course, the real measure of sucess is the mirror!

Frank Melfa is a real guy, and this shines through in his writing. He has to squeeze his workouts and healthy meals into a normal busy life, just like all of us. But if you have a question about something in the book, Frank will even respond personally to your e-mail!

The book includes pictures of Frank during his various competitions, as well as his appearance today. I think that pictures of the author should be a requirement for any exercise book. I bought this book for my sister, also. She's always had trouble gaining muscle mass, and this book has helped her as well.

As Frank points out, changing the shape of your body is a difficult thing to do. For many of us, our body is the result of our habits and lifestyle. If you truly want to change the way you look, you will need to change your habits. For me, this has been a very fulfilling and worthwhile change...and it only gets better from here!

I've been working out now for about a year and a half. There has been a lot of books written about bodybuilding and training. But these books depict unrealistic training methods and physiques.Often times, these people use steroids and Growth hormone drugs.Frank Melfa's book takes you through in a realistic way whether you are just starting out or are planning on competing in a bodybuilding contest. He explains about understanding your body type and how this will determine what your goals may be. Whether you want to lose weight and tone up or if you want to gain muscle and lose fat, it will all be explained to you in a simple way. Some folks simply are'nt sure how much weight they should use, how many reps, sets, and how many days in week they should train. Again, it will all be explained to you in simple terms. Frank wants the reader to know that building muscle is not easy and that it will take hard work and good eating habits and working out consistently to see good results. This is one of only a handful of bodybuilding books out there that tells it like it is.If I were just starting out, this is the book I would buy. You will keep referring back to the book many times as I have. I have made my gains by working hard and eating right, so can anyone with the samedetermination and patience. Good luck and God bless America.

Before I found this book, I was always very intimidated by gyms and the equipment. I never could get myself to take an instructional class, but then I found this book. The pictures and descriptions in this book are very helpful for doing the exercises and using the equipment correctly without hurting yourself.

This book is also very motivational. He tells you everything necessary for getting in shape. There are tips for beginners as well as tips for advanced bodybuilders who plan on competing. He gives you some sample workout plans and also has a very good chapter an your diet. I think this book could be helpful for people of all skill levels, but I am a beginner so I know it is helpful from that perspective.

This book is also a very easy read. It kept my interest throughout even in the sections I don't plan on using such as professional competitions.

If it helps, I have lost over 20 pounds after the first 2 months of having this book.

This book is a great resource for anyone seeking to build a better body. It includes practical information that beginners as well as experienced lifters can easily incorporate into their workout routine. I especially like this book because it is written in simple, down-to-earth language that is easy to understand. Also, as a female I find that most male trainers are arrogant and don't want to give women the time of day. Mr. Melfa has written a book that is respectful of women and gives explanations tailored to our needs as well. He includes photographs that give a complete view of the exercise from beginning to end. I stopped seeing results for a while and wanted to quit. Reading this book has boosted my enthusiasm and determination to reach my fitness goals.

After five months, Frank's book still teaches me things everytime I read it. I carry it in my gym bag, and refer to it constantly. If you are looking for an exercise for a particular muscle group, the exercises are easy to find, because that's how they are grouped. And the pictures make the exercises easy to learn to do. Everything I know about body building, I have learned from this book. It really is a very REALISTIC approach to body building. I constantly am working to refine my exercise program, to "fine tune" it, and all the resources I need to do that are found here. I also took Frank's approach to carrying a journal and documenting what I do, and referring back to it. Staggered sets is something I learned from Frank, and it has enabled me to do almost twice as many exercises in my 55 minutes time slot. Buy this book!

This book is for everyone, from beginner to pro. It is very easy to read and filled with details. It covers all topics of bodybuilding, from exercise form to diet to stretching to contest prep. The author's back-to-basics approach helped me simplify many topics that muscle mag's and trainers had greatly clouded for me. The only thing about the book that confused me was the price. How is a book this good selling for under $20 ?

This book takes bodybuilding out of the realm of magazines that depict genetically gifted stars of the sport whose California lifestyles are so radically different than the average person's, and puts it into a very realistic and logical step-by-step progression for the most novice of bodybuilders.

Truthfully, Mr. Melfa isn't the most gifted writer on the planet. In the edition I read, there were some awkward uses of language, punctuation, and a couple of spelling errors here and there. Look beyond these! These miscues take nothing away from his expertise and knowledge of the body and how to build it.

I've itemized the points of the book that made it something I consult every day.

1) The book draws largely from a period of time when Melfa was training for Rutgers' University amateur bodybuilding competition. During his training, he was a full time student with a job also. He wasn't some fitness star with endorsements and sponsors for whom working out and looking great was his career. He had real commitments, time pressures and other responsibilities, yet he still found time to build a championship quality physique. Also, he has won several bodybuilding titles that only further validates the information contained in his book.

2) Melfa isn't a HUGE, musclebound freak. Yes he's extremely defined (shredded) and he has developed great musculature, but he isn't so large that he needs to special order clothing or anything like that. He's developed the classic physique without going overboard or looking like a misfit.

3) He has prepared several workout regiments. Each is quite detailed and spells out what bodyparts to work each day, how many exercises per bodypart, what exercises to perform, the number of reps and the number of sets. Also included are picture demonstrations and descriptions of how to perform all of the exercises mentioned in the book. I've performed these programs and they never take me longer than 45 mins to an hour by myself and 70 minutes with my training partner. He also speaks extensively on cardiovascular exercise programs.

4) His nutrition section is well presented. The book spells out the foods that one can eat and how much. He doesn't present any recipes or anything like that, but that isn't within the scope of the book. He also speaks on supplements. He doesn't necessarily advocate them or advise against them. But, through his writings, he appears unconvinced of the claims of most supplement companies and believes that a proper training and diet regimend can accomplish what the most expensive and well-marketed supplement can.

5) Finally, he takes the reader through an entire pre-contest training and diet schedule from about 5 or 6 months out. This includes tips on tanning, posing, diet at different phases of the pre-season and training.

This book is simple to read, absolutely full of essential information and perfect for the beginning and advanced bodybuilder. It takes all the guesswork out of effectively working out and lets you get right down to business.

Frank Melfa is to be commended for this great book. The title is well chosen, because this book does indeed offer a straightforward, no-bull explanation of the steps you need to follow in order to fulfill whatever goals you have, no matter what level you're at. This book gives me everything I need, because not only does it give clear, concise, easy to follow instructions on a full range of weightlifting exercises, but the author goes much further with in-depth discussions of which combinations of exercises you can do, different training strategies, how many sets and reps to do, and which exercises are particularly useful for meeting one goal or another. He also includes detailed discussions of nutrition, and specific guidelines and tips for either gaining or losing weight. There is also a lot of material aimed at more experienced body builders who wish to prepare for a contest and get into the competitive side of the sport.

I am not at that level, so I can say for beginners considering this book that the advanced material is well separated from the main body of the book. This is a great book for a beginner. Reading the book, I really feel like I'm getting personalized advice from a professional trainer. I have not yet encountered a single question that I was not able to answer with this book.

I bought "Bodybuilding: A Realistic Approach" when I first started working out, about six months ago. It was a tremendous help getting me started in coming up with a good program and doing the exercises properly. Since then, I have consulted the book several more times, reading many chapters again. I have found that there is so much detailed material and advice that I get more out of it each time. As I've gained experience and strength, the book has helped me with the finer points, making adjustments to the workout, realizing that I've been doing an exercise wrong, or finding a new exercise to add to my routine.

I can't say enough good things about this book. Be sure and check out the table of contents because there's a lot of material I did not even mention.