Customer Reviews

Strength Training Anatomy

5 star:		(98)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is an excellent weight training reference for insight into the anatomy of the major muscle groups, and the exercises best suited to train specific muscles.

The book is broken down into seven major muscle groups: arms, shoulders, chest, back, legs, buttocks, and abdomen. Within each muscle group are multiple exercises, each comprised of detailed anotomical illustrations, instructions on performing the exercises, and key information such as variations (for specific focus on particular muscles) and warnings (to aviod injury).

Using this book, one could easily select a variety of exercises to build a total body workout program. The selection of exercises also allows for some routine variation to keep one's workout from getting stale.

The illustrations are of an exellent quality, as are the materials. The pages are of heavyweight paper, with a semi-glossy finish.

Although I rated this title highly, I did so with the understanding that it suits a very specific purpose, and is not a general purpose introduction or guide to weight training. This is an ANATOMY REFERENCE, specific to selected weight training exercises. It does not contain any other information concerning weight training, diet, exercise, etc. In fact, there is not even a brief introduction by the author, simply the reference material itself. But, in terms of its intended purpose, it is an excellent reference. If you already have some sort of "Bodybuilding Encyclopedia", you probably already posess much of the information contained in this title. Having no interest in the history, self-promotion, and general testosterone driven attitudes of many of those types of titles (as well as the phonebook sized package), I much prefer this concise book as an exercise reference.

I buy lots of fitness and strength training books, and this one is by far the best I've purchased. The book may look small, but it provides an extensive listing of exercises and includes tips about variations that will change how you work each muscle. This is important for a couple of reasons.

To maximize your gains in the gym, you have to constantly change your program so that your body doesn't hit a plateau. Regularly incorporating new exercises will also keep you from becoming bored with your workout. This book will show you how using a rope attachment with the pulley works a different part of the triceps as opposed to doing bench dips or doing a kickback. Also, the illustrations show you the auxiliary muscles that are recruited during compound movements like presses and deadlifts.

At first I was worried that the book might be too much for me to absorb, but it's not because the author does not get overly-technical with the explanations. The text is concise, yet thorough, and the pictures are highly detailed.

This is a wonderful reference book, and I highly recommend it.

This is the best reference book I have found for anyone interested in weight training. It gives very specific information on which muscles are used in many many weight-lifting exercises and, especially helpful, in different variations of these exercises. If you want to develop a routine that involves the different parts and aspects of a particular muscle group, this is a great place to look. The information is presented in an easy-to-understand written form and also visually with beautiful illustrations. I was very pleased to find that the illustrations include women's bodies as well as men's. This book presents complex information (which I have found missing or difficult to understand in other books) in a straight-forward and well-organized manner. The only negative thing I have to say is that I wish it had an index. I'm really glad I found this book!

Lots of good info. However, it is an anatomy book so the information is limited to anatomy. This book shows you what the involved muscle does during a specific exercise. This book will not teach you how to work out, and has no info on diet or nutrition. If you are a beginner you may want to start with a different exercise book. If you already work out and you need to know which exercise hits which muscle and how, this is the book to get.

I had high hopes for this book based on the customer reviews I read, but I still didn't expect such an extremely high level of detail and quality! It turned out to be everything I was looking for and more. It is very well laid out - a section is devoted to each bodypart (i.e. arms, chest, shoulders), and on the first page of each section is a rundown of all of the exercizes that are profiled. What follows is a beautifully drawn depiction of someone performing the given movement with the targeted muscles highlighted. It also offers tips on proper form and possible variations. I can honestly say I have never been more satisfied with ANY book I have purchased. I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone with even the slightest in the way the human body works and it is an absolute MUST HAVE for anyone who is at all involved in weightlifting at any level. It will help make your workouts more effective because you will know exactly which muscles you have been targeting in your workouts and those you may have been neglecting. Please do yourself a favor and buy this book!!!

"Strength Training Anatomy" covers all the exercises for every significant muscle group in the body with color illustrations showing proper form and which muscles are used with each exercise. It also covers free weights and most of the more popular Nautilus/Hammer machines. For many exercises, it also includes the subtle variations that can be done with certain exercises (for example, using a wide/narrow grip or stance) and tells how the muscles being worked are differently impacted by these variations.

Note that this book does not provide a workout or diet plan. It's main purpose is to serve as an illustrated reference guide so you can map out which muscle groups you'd like to target with which exercises. If you actually need a roadmap to setting up a routine, I'd personally recommend "Weight Training Workouts that Work" by Orvis or some other lifting guide in addition to this book. But the Delavier book is a great reference and can give some ideas of different lifts to try if you find yourself growing bored with your current routine.

This is a MUST for all those involved in strength/weight training. This book will become a major cornerstone/reference in anyone's library, as it has already in mine. The book has all the major exercises for each body part covered [from squats, bench press to dumbell rows]in great detail, shows how to do them correctly and also shows all muscles used for each movement in full anatomical pictures. This book by far exceeded my expectations and is another solid published book by Human Kinetics! I HIGHLY reccomend this book!!!!!!!!

Propably the first thing you notice when you open the book is quality. The paper is thick and glossy and the quality of printing is good. The pictures are beautiful, and it's easy to find exercises for a certain muscle group.

Then the bad news: While the pictures look great, on many occasions they are too detailed, to the point of being unclear. Every exercise is given a full page (two pages on some occasions). But the majority of a page is filled with large drawing of the exercise, with the stressed muscle groups shown. The performance of a given exercise is given far less detail, on some occasions only a few lines of text. I think it would be far more benefical to give more detailed explanation of correct performance and/or common mistakes, and print the picture a bit smaller.

The exercises in the book are divided on seven sections, based on which muscle group they mainly stress. This is OK, but the division of muscle groups is a bit odd. There is a separate section covering exercises for buttocs, but at the same time all other muscle groups in the leg are combined as "legs". It would be more reasonable to combine buttocs with quads, or thights, and give calves a separate section.

There are about 110 different exercises, and variations on some exercises. The selection of exercises is a bit odd in my opinion. For example, there is a page on seated calf raise (on a machine), and the author advises that as a variation you can do the exercise without a machine, using a barbell across your legs. Then, on the next page that very same exercise is presented as a separate exercise! And there are some basic exercises missing, like toe presses on leg press machine, for example.

Perhaps the main problem of the book is that it doesn't expalain the muslce mechanics at all. It would be great if the kinesiology of given muscle group would be explained at the beginning of each chapter, but there is no explanations at all about what a given muscle does, and how it affects the whole body. For example, the book says that seated calf raise targets the soleus, but there is no explanation what this means in practice. And there is no explanation which exercise I sould use if I wanted to emphasize the outer calf, for example.

As a conclusion, I would say that in certain circumstances this book can be a valuable asset, but you can't use it by itself. You need to have some books on kinesiology, and some books which describe the correct performance of each exercise in detail.

This is not only an excellent anatomy book for strength training, it also has good guidelines for performing exercises correctly and tips for getting more out of each movement. It goes beyond most similar books in detail and the diagrams are great without being overly complicated.

While the book doesn't talk about how to put together workouts or routines for various body parts, it delivers on its title. If you want specific workouts collected in book form, this isn't what you are looking for. However, for strength training anatomy, it's simple, straightforward and well done in every respect.

This book is one of the best book I have found in this subject. I been working out for more that 20 years and studied every major book in this subject and never found anything that comes close to this book. The clarity and illustrations are the best that I seen. Don't get me wrong book such as Arnold's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding are fine and very informative, but they concentrate on explanation (sometimes confusing) rather than Illustration which get the point accross. I HIGHLY recommendt this book for anything body who is interest in exersice and weight lifting. This book is a must for any serious athelete or fitness person. This is best for men and women as well (I never seen such a well illustrated book about women exercises). BUY IT AND ENJOY THIS JEWEL...