Weight Training for Dummies [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author) "Beginning a weight training program is one of the best decisions to make for your health, well-being, physical, and mental performance..." (more)
Key Phrases: basic abdominal crunch, quickie workout, pull your abdominals, Abdominals Basic, Shoulders Dumbbell, Back Band (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Any large bookstore has a few shelves of books about exercise and fitness. Usually they fall into one of two categories: basic books meant for people who've never exercised before, and bodybuilding manuals meant for people who do nothing but. Weight Training for Dummies is just about the only book that spans the knowledge gap between the two groups. It has plenty of easy-to-understand instruction for complete beginners, but there's also a lot of information for those who've been training a while. In fact, some veteran gym rats may be startled by the authors' extreme skepticism about nutritional supplements and some popular classes offered in many gyms.

Review

One of the easiest-to-understand, best-illustrated guides to important strength exercises we've ever seen. -- Men's Fitness

Solid, comprehensive, and fun...Photos illustrate more than 150 pages of exercises. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Hungry Minds; 1 edition (May 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764550365
• ISBN-13: 978-0764550362
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #501,290 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Book...missing stuff though, March 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Weight Training for Dummies (Paperback)

If you are starting out, this book will give you the basics (as the name implies); the excercises are very well explained and the fundamental facts of weight training are here. However, if your goal is to obtain body mass and really define your body, and I'm NOT talking about going overboard or looking to win a body building contest or anything of that sort but simply looking good, then I would look elsewhere. This book is for the VERY beginners or for people who want to excercise without really "building", and just want to be fit and have a light but useful workout.

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginners..., May 20, 2003

By	M. P. Procter Sr. "History in 2010" (Jacksonville, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Weight Training for Dummies (Paperback)

but I really needed the next level. Don't get me wrong, it's a great book and is loaded with information. Unfortunately, the first third of the book was basic, like "this is a weight" and "these are barbells." The last third didn't really involve weight training at all, but talked about yoga and Pilates.

The sections that covered actual weight training and exercise routines was very good, but not as in-depth as I would have liked. It seems to me that "Fitness for Dummies" should have covered the stretching and yoga. I would have liked to seen more on just weight training.

But, if you've never - and I do mean never - been exposed to weight training, then this book is for you.

84 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for beginners, October 23, 1999

By A Customer

This book explains the basics of weight training in enough depth to be useful, without assuming that everyone who starts lifting weights wants to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. The book goes into good detail about an assortment of excercises for different parts of the body, as well as things to watch out for with each excersize, and has a good chapter on designing your own program. The pictures are of real people, not bulked up steroid cases, and the writing style is fun to read.