Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some editing problems so read carefully, March 28, 2007
This review is from: The Men's Health Gym Bible (Paperback)
The topics covered in the book are wide ranging and informative but the editing in some parts leave little to be desired. For example, in chapter 13 on the Muscle-Building Workout, the instructions and the actual layout of the workouts don't coincide. The instructions say the leg workouts should be done as straight sets but in workout B, the first two leg exercises are listed as A1 and A2, suggesting a superset. Also, the instructions explained the workouts as upper body/lower body, upper body /lower body but the 1st upper body workout includes the Bulgarian Split Squat and the 2nd upper body workout includes Cable Pull Through, both leg movements. The 2nd upper body workout also has Lateral Raise as part of an arm tri-set. I'm guessing it should've been in the shoulder portion instead, where it shows a superset of Hang Clean and DB Shoulder Press.
Other errors I noted were the illustrations of the various machines. The Seated Calf Raise on page 212 looks an awful lot like a Preacher Curl Machine to me and is that really a 45 degree Leg Press Machine on page 208? On page 282, that doesn't look like a Glute Hame Raise Machine. There are others but you get the idea.
There's a lot of good information in this book but unfortunately, the editing mistakes may leave novice lifters confused about what machines they're actually looking at in their gym and whether they're conducting their exercises in the proper order.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for someone new to the gym, March 27, 2007
This review is from: The Men's Health Gym Bible (Paperback)
This book has a wealth of information useful to someone who recently joined or is considering joining a gym. The book is well laid out and very easy to read. This book was perfect for me. The exercises are well illustrated. Information is presented concisely. The book is free of one person's opinions. Too much authoritative lecturing is a problem that plagues many books in this category. This book avoids that mistake. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who is considering joining a gym or already belongs to one and wants to maximize the benefits of membership.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great resource...with some editing problems, October 27, 2007
This review is from: The Men's Health Gym Bible (Paperback)
This book does a very good job of de-mystifying the gym work out. There are quite a few devices and gizmos that I was never quite sure how to use, and this book explains what they do and how to use them. Also, it does a very good job of categorizing different exercises, providing many ways to work different muscle groups. For instance, chest exercises using no weights, free weights, bars, benches, cages, machines, etc. Having more options at my disposal makes it easier to work out. There are some editing problems, as noted in another review. The most annoying for me was the inconsistency between some of the charts and the written-out explanations for certain routines. Specifically, the muscle-building exercise program in chapter 13 is exactly what I was looking for...except that the chart and the workout expalanation don't match up. They are inconsistent regarding when to superset, the order of the exercises, and duration. I actually went to some online body-building forums to get some ideas on how to best implement the routine. But the bottom line is that the book has been helpful, and has provided me additional motivation to get to the gym and try different things.
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