Customer Reviews

The Poliquin Principles: Successful Methods for Strength and Mass Development

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Clearly aimed at the serious bodybuilder, with information that would also be valuable to serious weight trainers and trainees, this book is not suitable as introductory material for someone who hasn't been weight training (and reading about training) for a while.

The focus of the book is on how to plan training programs more than on particular exercises or presenting set plans.

For an experienced bodybuilder who wants to better scientifically optimize his or her training program, there is a great deal of good information here summarized in a very accessible and readable form. I give it five stars because I think it is great for this audience -- it might just be the most accessible of the most scientific.

I think Poliquin's credentials as a strength coach give him authority. In trying to base everything on science, it would have been nice to have more in-depth discussion of the studies his conclutions are based on, or at least to provide citations. By not doing so, he opens himself to the same kind of ridicule he lays out in this book on less scientifically-based programs and experts.

Charles Poliquin is THE strength coach, not just a personal trainer in tights who talks of "toning" and "feeling the burn". Whether your goal is to improve athletic performance or build muscle and lose fat, this is the place to start. Charles does not play around with wimpy exercises. He simply tells you what works, no matter how painful and exhausting it may be. Even though I think this is the best book of its kind, there are some problems. First, the pictures are old and out of date. Second, there is one horrible type-o: In one arm routine, the text says to perform it 3 times per week. Actually, Charles meant "once every 5 days". If that training regimen were performed 3 times per week, you could easily overtrain, which could lead to injuries. Poliquin writes for a web zine called Testosterone.com and states that these problems will be fixed in the updated version of this book. Also, be aware that this info can be very technical and! Poliquin does not always "dumb it down" for the layman trainer. A few more illustrations would have been very helpful. Despite these drawbacks, this is a great book. I have used this information to both train athletes and add muscle to my own physique. Buy this book and get ready for some grueling, but very effective workouts.

I would rate this 9/10 (it is not perfect) but it is worth 5 stars.

Yes, it is true Polloquin prob. upsets a few people, he makes comments such as "pencil necked geeks", please don't take anything he says like that personally, it is just his off sense of humour, he is not malicious and if you heard him in person you'd realise he is kidding around. And yes there are spelling mistakes and things, but don't worry about that.

The information is first class. I highly recommend this to a beginner because it will give you a good grounding on truth in bodybuilding, and techniques that work. Honestly, if you are a beginner, pretty much anything you do will get great results (and hopefully not injury - get a book on weight training technique if you don't get this one), so don't get all wrapped up in any specific system just because it gives you good results when you start out. The information in this book is as good as any you'll find and covers all topics (except you should also get a really good nutrition book).

Polloquin Principles is a bit basic - now it has a lot more information than many other books, but Polloquin has a lot more tricks and techniques than just what is in this book, it is a shame he does not do a part II with all his many many tricks. For example, if you exercise a bodypart in the morning, then again 6 hours later, you will have a major neurological advantage because in those 6 hours your nervous system overcompensates, giving you major strength opportunity later in the day for the same muscle group. He has many obscure tricks like this and I wish he would write them all down!

However this book is more like a good, solid, overall book. The beginning covers basics, then workouts, things like reps and volume and stuff. Then, it goes through every major muscle group (legs, back, arms etc..) and tells you the most productive, most important exercises to do, how to do them.

It is a good foundation book, essential for beginners and intermediate, and even advanced (although by now you have prob. encountered just about everything already).

Note it is not only for bodybuilding but if your aim is to gain strength, or sport conditioning as well.

And I highly recommend it for women as well. Don't think all this is just for men, women and girls have got a lot more to get out of weightlifting than men do if you ask me.

This is a great book for intermediate to advanced weightlifters. It would have been a great book for everyone interested in packing on muscle, except Poloquin assumes too much for a beginner. In fact, more advanced lifters are guaranteed to wonder what the heck he's talking about sometimes. The photos contribute absolutely nothing to the text - they are just stuck in willy-nilly because some editor somewhere said, "You have to have SOME pictures!" But in general Poloquin gives better information about the subject than you'll ever get from all the Joe Weider publications combined.

The good: Poliquin is extremely knowledgable in strength training. The book has brought up some things I haven't considered in my training. He clearly explains why such weakpoints occur and how to effectively train these areas. Poliquin introduces effective periodization and how to manipulate training variables to maximize results. A good plus is that I am familiar with 2 of his trainees mentioned in his book, Andre Charrette and Mike Payette. Both of these men are huge.

The bad: Poliquin maybe a good strength coath but as far as bodybuilding is concerned he's not the greatest expert. Some of his training ideas are out of date in the bodybuilding world. I wonder if he still lives in the 80s. There's a reason why intensity training has been the vogue!

His routines are riduculous with a lot of funny isolation exercises and way too many supersets. I plan to use his ideas and make up my own routines just as payette and charrette do. The pictures are old and very out of! date. The book is printed on cheap paper which doesn't compliment it's price tag. I noticed many printing mistakes in the book. My point? I think poliquin should spend a full year or two on nothing but pure bodybuilding just to see if he still keeps his ideas on training for muscle growth!

For beginners it's an excellent book. I learnt from this book in the beginning and I'm making great progress. The only negative points I can see are that some of the exercises are a mystery to me, ("hey Charles, what the hell is a Russian Good Morning?"). And the pictures are a bit second rate. The quality is good, and you can see a whole pile of well developed muscle groups that are being referred to, but that's because a lot of them are steroid freakshows. Sorry to all you steroid users out there! But it does look a little over the top. Regards.

This book certainly gave me a solid knowledge of the fundamentals of weight training. I would recommend it to anyone looking to gains a good scientific understanding of weight training. The explanation of reps and slow-twitch vs. fast twitch muscles was excellent.

I bought a few of the pieces of equipment he recommends. The "Manta Ray" and the "Swiss Ball" were great. I put out $250 for the ab machine...a complete waste of money...it's headed for the dustbin of history...or mmaybe just the dustbin.

I am a natural bodybuilder, as is Poliquin. However, I dont like the endorsements of these whey protein drinks...most people are allergic to dairy...and if they aren't, the loads of simple sugars and other crap in these drinks are certainly not conducive to health.

This is the Bible of Mass Development and Strenght Training. More explanation about appropriate form would have been appreciated. Maybe some pictures with the start/end sequence of excercises would have helped. Please don't make the mistake I made by buying the latest book from Charles Poliquin called Modern Trends in Strenght Training. This book is just a poor summary of chapter 2 of Successful Methods for Strength and Mass Development.

This book is a fantastic resource for bodybuilders. While Coach Poliquin works mainly with professional and olympic athletes striving for strength and power, he makes it clear that the scope of this text is to build mass. I really found the material in this book useful and include it as a staple in my training. While Coach gives a ton of in-depth, research-proven info, he's not afraid to throw in some comedy here and there, lending to the book's unique and enjoyable tone. A very down-to-earth, easy-to-understand bodybuilding book. A must read for any serious bodybuilder, as it also gives you effective workouts to take to the gym immediately!

I bought this book so I could set up myself a workout program. I read the book then went back to check out the suggested workouts. Then I got a big let down. I didnt have a clue of some of the exercises that was listed. Very very few exercises were explained on what they were and how to do them properly. I've bought other books even to try and find details on workouts, the only one i've found so far was golds gym encyclpedia of bodybuilding. If anyone has any info on a book with alot of exercises and there discriptions let me know. If charles would have thought of us intermediate guys this book would be a five star book-- six stars if i would have taken the pictures for the book. They suck real bad.