Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding: The Complete A-Z Book on Muscle Building

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having seen every issue of Musclemag International since issue #1, I didn't expect to see anything new with the Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding. I am happily surprised with the great content of this book. It really is an encyclopedia. With chapter titles like The Key to Anabolic Growth, Synthol and Bodybuilding in the Golden Years this is a great book for beginners and veterans alike. Intense routines and a walk down the memory lane of bodybuilding make this one of the best bodybuilding books ever.

Musclemag is my favourite BB Mag, and Bob Kennedy has written many great books, so I had very high expectations from this book.
Let me tell you that, while it doesn't exceed my expectations it very well satisfy them.
It covers many grounds that Arnold's or Bill Pearl's Encyclopedia's didn't cover, Bob Kennedy is a great writer and publisher, this book is another testimonial for that fact.

Let me Share its Chapters:
1.Laying the Groundwork
2.The Body You're Building
3.Ready,Set,Go!
4.Principles of Nutrition
5.Intermediate Level Concerns
6.Advenced Level Training
7.BB the Greatest of Sports
8.Earning Living through BB
9.The Big Seven Exersizes
10.The M.A.S.S System Training
11.Training with the Superstars
12.The Complete BBer
13.BB Sociology
14.Hardcore Growth

This book is beautiful! I have a large library of bodybuilding books and magazines collected from the 80's and I'm always looking for something new and different to add to my collection, which is not always easy since every book out there seems to be a repeat of something else.

The book is a hardback which makes it somewhat heavy and awkward to hold and I can see over time how the binding may start to get stressed and begin to break because of the weight. If it's placed on a sturdy shelf and cared for, it should never fall apart- but it's something to consider. I almost wish they would have just made it a paperback because books are meant to be read and therefore endure some level of abuse from time to time. Hopefully they will get a paperback version out there soon. Also, it has a dust-jacket which is a bit annoying because of course it's going to slip off and get torn over time.

The book covers almost every aspect of bodybuilding that I can think of, including history and famous bodybuilders (vital information for beginners to the sport), how to stretch safely (something most bodybuilders overlook from time to time), how to make money in the industry, contest preparation and promotion, mass gaining, "the pump", individual pro's workouts, nutrition, basic physiology/biology, a "question and answer" chapter in the back, side affects of steroid use, training injuries, etc.

Really there's nothing it doesn't cover, so a beginner to the sport would really get a lot out of this large book. I am a natural competitive female bodybuilder and am also a personal trainer, and still found this book to be informative and thorough and am proud to add it to my extensive collection of literature.

The pictures are mainly of male bodybuilders which is always disappointing because I think it's equally important to read about the history of women's bodybuilding and explain the differences in muscle building between men and women. There is a quick rundown of the beginning of female bodybuilding with a large picture of Cory Everson (page 24-25), but it's really only two pages long and gives a basic explanation of why female bodybuilding is not as popular (ie. extreme masculinity being a turn-off, etc).

I subscribe to MuscleMag International and have for years, so I'm used to the writing style and information that Robert Kennedy provides in his publications. The pictures in this book are some of the best I've seen in any book I own, and they are inspiring. As a trainer, I like to keep myself informed from a scientific viewpoint, but also from the perspective of the people I train. Most of them will pick up books like this looking for information and it's important that I know what they are reading to better guide and educate them. This is one book I would recommend to any client of mine who appreciates the bodybuilding lifestyle and is not turned off by the larger than life physiques in this book. It is thorough enough to educate a newbie- but to also shed some light on the bodybuilding counterculture that is truly fascinating and unlike any other sport in the world.

This book is extremely comprehensive, and filled with a ton of high quality information, gorgeous pictures, and advice from the pros. It is lso brand new, so the information is 100% current. On the other hand, it does not go very deeply into a lot of the details. For example, there is a good description of various workout schedules, but no examples of what sample routines in most of them would look like. Likewise, the descriptions of the exercizes are woefully inadequete, and relegated to an appendix, with only a few pictures (typically 1 picture for every 5 or so items). If you are not familiar with the words that describe exercizes, you will have a hard time understanding these descriptions.

I really can't compare this book to many other sources; the only other body building book I've read is The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding : The Bible of Bodybuilding, Fully Updated and Revised by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Comparing the two, I think that this book covers a lot more ground, is much more modern regarding some things (you have to keep in mind Arnold's background and take a lot of what he says with a grain a salt... much of it is old wive's tales...). for example, I've tried Arnold's recommended 6 day split, and like he said, I got awesome results... but at the same time, every 6 or so weeks, my body would collapse and I would need to lay off for at least a week. This book talks about that, and I feel a lot better know that it isn't just me, and that the 6 day split is too grueling for most people. I am looking forwards to trying some of the alternatives now, and no longer feel like I'd better "slacking". But Arnold has a MUCH better section on how to perform the exercizes.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a good survey of the bodybuilding landscape, and then supplementing with a book devoted specifically to "how to perform exercizes", or even Arnold's Encyclopedia.

I WILL KEEP IT SHORT AND SWEET ! I ORDERED THIS BOOK AND ARNOLD'S ENCYLOPEDIA OF MODERN BODYBUILDING AROUND THE SAME TIME ! THIS BOOK IS A WAY BETTER BOOK, MORE INFORMATIVE, BETTER PICTURES, AND A HARDCOVER INSTEAD OF A PAPERBACK ! ARNOLD'S BOOK IS GOOD BUT NOT THIS GOOD ! THIS IN THE ONLY BODYBUILDING BOOK ONE WILL EVER NEED ! FOR THE ANATOMY PART OF BODYBUILDING AND WHAT MUSCLE EACH EXERCISE IS WORKING, I WOULD BUY STRENGTH TRAINING ANATOMY BY FREDERIC DELAVIER 3RD EDITION ! THIS IS ALSO A VERY GOOD BOOK ! IF YOU HAVE THESE TWO BOOKS IN YOUR BODYBUILDING LIBRARY-YOUR BODYBUILDING LIBRARY WILL BE COMPLETE ! GOOD LUCK AND KEEP UP THE HARD WORK !!

This book certainly covers just about everything concerning bodybuilding. Hence why I give it four stars. To read more about that, other reviewers have done well in explaining them. I do want to add two things however that haven't been addressed. In favor of the book, the author emphasizes THROUGHOUT the book about not overtraining. This is a great facet of the book as compared to Arnold's book who's workouts are clearly from his own workout regimes when he was taking steroids.

I, however, took away one star because the ONLY pictures that are in the book are ALL from bodybuilders who take steroids. The author spends a chapter discussing the side-effects of steroids and clearly speaks out against them, but all of his pictures of exercises and competitions are with those who use the drug enhancement drugs. Moreover, the author explicitly states in that chapter that professional bodybuilders all use steroids. That is an outright lie as "Natural Bodybuilding" is a growing sport with national competitions. One doesn't have to go far on google to find this fact and to see the difference in looks between the natural bodybuilders and those who use anabolic steroids. I believe it would have been more encouraging and motivating to hit the gym after reading through the encyclopedia if Natural Bodybuilders were shown rather than the people who I will never look like.

So overall it is definitely an informative book. You will not waste your money in purchasing it. My reservation is merely its indirect support of those bodybuilders who are heavily dosed on drugs.

I bought this book after reading reviews that it was full of great information and better than Arnold's encyclopedia. Well it isn't. Looking for information on the pages is burdensome because of the excess of graphics surrounding the information and constant changes in font size/color meant to draw your attention. I'm not putting down the content. That I do believe is solid. I just hate the format.

I added this hardcover, and given a choice, I buy hardcover instead of softcover books, adding this excellent encyclopedia to my growing bodybuilding reference library, and I am glad I did buy it, since it has alot of informative sections on health and other issues, like the aging bodybuilder which is encouraging. Other areas are a must read, I believe information listed concerning what some have resorted to in order to build muscle, I guess for the allure of money winning contests(?), is absolutely astounding, I had no idea that there are some who would damage their health and/or risk death in minutes by "using" some commonly used prescription drugs other than sterioids, I had no idea of the scope of the extent to which some have gone, considering the deaths reported from such abuses. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't read it and seen pictures of grotesque malformations caused by such abuses.
At first I was biased for big name books like the Bill Pearl books, Arnold books, among many I have, and almost passed on this sale price buy book and I am sure others may have as well, but I say to them just get this book and you will see it has a rather excellent glossary of defined terms, shocking sections on the aformentioned abuses, along with just plain ole good information even on how to lift weights.
As for myself, I am old school on "how to" books, and I would have preferred either diagrams or several pics of start to finish on how to do lifts, like in other books, but all is explained in detail in words and a simple picture pose of what is being talked about, like if talking about long bar barbell curls, then there is a pic of someone muscular doing that in one pic, unsure if there are some who need overly simple diagrams of simple step by step to do the particular action with like four pics each, which is why this book may actually cater to those who are really into weightlifting already even though there are beginning to advanced bodybuilding sections and meant to cater to all levels of lifting, though total beginners need this book especially, even if it is just for the references of what to avoid like dangerous actions and abuse that can cause injury of muscle or joints, or disfigure, or kill either immediately or in the short term, to long term.
I don't believe in the "if you only had to have one book, then such and such is it", since there is no such thing on any one subject, you need this book along with several or more other big ones to get the total picture, and you can even get a few used and underpriced like I did, though I bought this book on sale under $30 new, but knowing now what is inside I know it is worth the full price of $40 for sure if it were not on sale.

The book has a high building quality, is very well writen and has everything in it to success in bodybuilding. However, keep in mind half the bookis about professional bodybuilding. I mean posing and contest preparations. The other half is the best reference information you can find about succesfull training. I recommend it as the best book outthere for beginners and as reference book about this sport.
I gave it only 4 stars because I don't care about contest preparation and posing and i would have prefered a larger part on nutrition and nutrtition timing. This topics are well covered, but I just wish it was a larger part.

I still don't own this book and that's a shame. I read it every time (1-2 a week) I go to Barnes and Noble and I truly love it. It has great and lots of information. Some parts might be intended for beginners but others help people like me to who like to create their own workouts, learn about the science behind and more on nutrition. It defines different training types (21s, Pyramids, Super Sets, Trisets, Giantsets, etc) clearly and tells their benefits and how to use them. It describes a lot of things scientifically. It also has a sample workouts from the best in the business. Every person has a unique body so you can't just use the same workout for everyone and expect the same results. So, you have to try different things to see which is best for yourself and this book helps you by giving variety and lots of ideas. I would definitely recommend if you like working out with weights - you don't even have to be a body builder.