Customer Reviews

The Complete Book of Core Training: The Definitive Resource for Shaping and Strengthening the 'Core' -- The Muscles of the Abdomen, Butt, Hips, and Lower Back

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The basic premise of the book is conditioning the abdominal, low back, and hip muscles such that the whole body mass is stabilized during activity. That great idea is over inflated with the word "core" that the authors overuse redundantly and apply it to the mind, body, anatomy, and eating. The simple format of writing style, short chapters, and plenty of the authors' well tested advices, render the book invaluable source of information on effective fitness practice.

On the low side, the three hundred and fifty pages in this book would have been reasonably condensed into a 100 pages had the authors organized their thoughts and placed themselves on the readers' side. The first 17 chapters spanned over a hundred pages of non-sense talking. The idea of placing exercises at the end of the book, separated from the relevant text, is unwise choice. Many people seeking expedient engaging in generic fitness training could not afford the luxury of flipping pages to locate relevant exercises.

When the talking got serious, at page 106, and exercises started showing up, chaos also started. For example, the topic "Introduction to exercises" appears at pages 41, 155, and then at page 221. The authors seem to be at loss of where to put their exercises. Stretch exercises, strengthening exercises, endurance exercises, and complex exercises are intermixed in a haphazard and illogical fashion. A hundred or so pages after the "Introduction to Core Workout", there is the "Introduction to Core Routines", and then comes "Introduction to Exercises" on page 221. Although most of the book materials are based on personal experience and are fairly and reasonably argued, yet they lack concrete scientific support.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

I purchased about 10 books from Amazon on abs in order to compare them. This one is fairly big, but there is a lot of white space on every page (you're paying for all of it). It also has confusing lay-out so that it's hard to use. If you're interested to know how it compares with other books, my conclusions are below...

If You Want to Trim Your Waistline: You can't trim your waistline without losing fat, and you can't lose fat around your waist without losing it everywhere (focusing on a muscle group like the abdominal muscles doesn't burn fat in that location, just a little bit of fat from everywhere on the body). So, if you want to trim your waistline, skip the ab workout books and go with a good, proven overall weight loss and fitness book like Bill Phillips' Body for Life. The Abs Diet is a similar program, but like all the Men's Health publications, it advertises a 6-week transformation, which is just a little unrealistic. Plan on more like 12-24 weeks to see really noticeable changes if you are fat.

If You Want Sculpted Six-Pack Abs: If you are overweight at all, see above--you can't get a six pack while you're overweight, and you can't lose abdominal fat by doing an ab workout, so go for overall fitness. However, if you are already lean, see below.

If You Want to Strengthen or Build Your Ab Muscles: If you're trying to improve for work, play, or rehab, you might consider the following books: The Body Sculpting Bible for Abs Deluxe DVD Edition contains decently up-to-date information and tells you exactly what to do and when to do it, based on a six-week fitness course. If you're looking for a similar book with more information, you can choose from The Complete Book of Abs or The Complete Book of Core Training. The Complete Book of Abs (1998) is a little out of date in terms of its dietary/nutritional recommendations, but it focuses more on exercises that develop the external abdominal muscles (the ones you see in a six-pack), including lots of variations on leg lifts, bicycle motion, and sit-ups. It will also give you more resources for creating your own program, and, if that's what you want to do, go with this one instead of The Body Sculpting Bible. The Complete Book of Core Training (2006) focuses more on the functional body core, including internal abdominal muscles, legs, etc., and includes more trendy exercises using medicine balls, exercise balls, yoga, etc. A different sort of book is Stronger Abs and Back (1997), which was written before the current fad of selling "core training," but contains the elements of core training because it gives good functional sports-focused advice. Its dietary recommendations are out of date, but it recommends a 24-week workout plan, which is much more realistic than the 6-week plans advocated by many of the other books.

If You Have Back Pain: See your doctor, and if he prescribes abdominal/core strengthening, see above.

My one-book recommendation: Body for Life.
My two-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back.
My three-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back + The Complete Book of Abs.
My four-book recommendation: Body for Life + Stronger Abs and Back + The Complete Book of Abs + The Abs Diet.

Hope this helps!!

This book has great ab routines, although it took me a bit to organize them all into a workout. Its kinda like the authors threw all the pages of the book into the air, then glued them together and put a cover on it. However once you actually find the routines, they are good. Although I would get another strength training routine, one that may not have the best abodominal excercises and combine it with this book. The rest of the stuff in the book was usless to me, and most training routines, that I've seen, dont really have a great ab/core workout. Bottom line; you get the best for your core, and you can dump the rest.

I had high hopes for this book. The book has good pictures, which illustrate the exercises well. However, it is very unorganized, with chapters that don't go in any particular order. Additionally, the routines that are recommended are very poorly worded, and don't give specifics about time to hold a position, or how many reps/sets to do. All in all, I was very disappointed with this book. To add insult to injury, the binding fell apart, and the pages are now everywhere.

I found that this book was very hard to follow. The exercises are good to incorporate into other workouts but this book overall is not worth the money.

Figuring this book out is harder than the actual workouts. I've figured it out, so you don't have to.

The core of the book, which sets it apart from others, starts on page 161. "Going Deeper: The Inner Core Routine." All of us gym rats over the years would work the visible muscles and preen in front of the mirror, little knowing that the neglected inner muscles need work too. The authors explain this on page 163. Read it three times. Keep reading to the end of Part Four, if you have the patience.

Then read page 42, "The Complete Core Workout Design." This puts the inner core workout into context. Roll out your exercise mat and jump into chapter 8, "Level One: Get Started Now." This chapter lists a routine consisting of 10 core exercises, referring you to page numbers where the exercises are pictured and described in detail. You'll want Post-its to flag each of the 10 pages, and until you learn the routine, you will be flipping back and forth. The other option is to photocopy those exercise pages and put them in order in a thin binder. Chapters 9 and 10 offer progressively challenging routines. If you don't have a roman chair, you won't be able to do the back extension exercise on page 252. I plan to buy an exercise ball and substitute the exercise shown on page 254.

Once you have mastered these exercises and are confident, you can browse the rest of the book and tailor your own routine. There are also suggested conditioning routines for soccer, golf, kids, senior citizens ("prime time circuit"), yoga, and so forth.

A complete workout includes core work, cardio, strength training and stretching. On page 99 the authors explain this and present a suggested schedule. This follows with chapters on cardio, strength training and stretching. This is really off topic in that the book is trying to be a source for a complete workout. If you've got that covered, skip to chapter 22. It tells you how to warm up.

If you haven't already gathered from this review that the book is disorganized, I will say so. It is disorganized. The editor at Hyperion who shepherded this book into print should be "promoted" to receptionist, where she can't neglectfully spoil any other authors' ambitious publishing projects. Aside from reorganizing the book (which is a committee project by three men with the same last name), a good editor would have made the book more accessible with a detailed table of contents and better index.

Book arrived very quicky and in great shape. I was extremely satisfied with this vendor and would suggest them to anyone.

I was really excited when I bought this book, eager to improve my core workouts. This book was a big let down. The book itself is poorly organized. The first 75 pages are complete filler, so characteristic of poorly written workout literature. To clarify, this book is lined with encyclopedic coverage of many aspects of training such as diet, weight training... basically a topical review of stuff anyone but the complete novice would already know. The workouts outlined in the book are simply listed without pictures... what gives! Furthermore in the pictured section on core exercises, the authors simply cluster core exercises together into broad sections without explaining which muscles the exercises are targeting. Finally, the models in this book are all old and ugly. I wish I could return this book. The authors should have had me edit their work before publication.

Helped get me into working out 2 years ago. I lost my copy. I hope this one does the trick as well.

This is a really great book on core training. It has a lot of theory and explanations, along with a lot of (bodyweight) exercises. Really great book!