Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unfortunate Title -- Unequalled Teaching, July 16, 2000
Don't let the lurid title put you off. This book is not a tabloid-style mishmash of misinformation. It is a sound, sane instructional manual that will teach you how to lift weights safely.Most of the advice you get in the gym is worth exactly what you pay for it--nothing! Even when you pay for it, you oftentimes get garbage. I once had a personal trainer in a gym show me the "correct" way to benchpress. The result? Severe rotator cuff tendonitis. When I read this book, it explained exactly what was wrong with the personal trainer's advice and why I wound up injured. Some folks think you make "progress" by toughing it out and working through injuries. The way to make progress is to do the exercises properly and not get injured in the first place. If you want to make maximum progress, read this book and apply its principles. You can't go wrong.
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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You MUST learn Perfect Form for Bodybuilding, November 28, 2005
There are trainees out there who are bench pressing 90lbs of iron for twenty reps who praise themselves after doing it, but know in the back of their mind that their right wrist is starting to get a little sore from their workout. When moving onto the barbell curl that wrist just hurts too much to complete a full set. Well "pain is gain" so they drop the set and go back to the dressing room knowing that it will be two weeks before they recover. Try giving the same trainee "The Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique" and watch them reduce the bench press from 90lbs to 45lbs for eight reps maximum. "What has gone wrong?" they might ask. "Why have I suddenly gone from brawn to frailty?" The truth is that nothing is wrong. They are just learning to do it right this time... and they will gain more because of it. While motivation bodybuilding books like "Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" by Arnold Schwarzenegger, will certainly show you the vast majority of exercises that are required for a great high volume training (HVT) program, it does not go to great length to show you everything that you need to know about doing the exercises correctly and the pitfalls of doing them incorrectly. Danger workouts include the Vertical Machine Press, Straight-Arm Pullover, Bent-Over Barbell Rows, Bent-Over dumbbell Rows, T-bar rows and the One-Arm Dumbbell Row to name but a few. Although nearly everyone can get away with doing these exercises in small amounts without injury, they are considered high risk exercises and long term applications can prove absolutely disastrous. If the basic low-risk workouts can cause injury when executed without perfect form do you really want to increase the odds of getting an injury by doing high-risk exercises with bad form? While "The Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique" does not promise an injury free bodybuilding career it will firmly establish conditions that will prevent injury. If you can workout as much as you like as often as you like and do not need to nurse an injury then naturally the result is a gain rather than a loss that could have been avoided. Every exercise you learn from a book or a magazine should be cross-referenced with "The Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique" to see what it has to say. Even bench pressing professionals who have been at this for years will find that their form is not as good as what this book can prescribe. On first impressions I was seriously considering the fact that I had bought into another dud back page bodybuilding book that had hyped itself beyond its real value. I was concerned to find that it only contained 34 exercises and was full of self-proclaimed praise commercials all over the front and back cover. I have since come to learn that those adverts are there for good reason and 34 exercises expanding on perfect form is no small amount. The fact that it covers the big three - Bench Press, Deadlift and Squat is enough to substantiate the $20 price tag. It also includes Back Extension, Cable Row, Calf Raise, Close-Grip Bench Press, Crunch Abdominal Work, Curl, Decline Bench Press, Dumbbell Row, Finger Extension, Grip Machine Training, Incline Bench Press, Leg Press, Lever Bar Work, L-fly, Neck Work, Overhead Lockout, Overhead Press, Parallel Bar Dip, Partial Deadlift, Pinch-grip Lifting, Prone Row, Pulldown, Pullover, Pullup/Chin, Pushdown, Rader Chest Pull, Shrug, Side Bend, Squat, Stiff-legged Deadlift, Thick-bar Hold and the Wrist Roller Training. I had given up on ever doing a Close-Grip Bench Press. I guessed that some exercises are just not for some people. It took me several readings of the Bench Press section to understand that even though I believed I was executing right angle holds I was not, meaning that my hands where too close. When I was told to bring them in closer for the Close-Grip Bench Press I just ended up murdering my wrists and elbows. This book eventually taught me that my Bench Press was more of a Close-Grip Bench Press and my Close-Grip Bench Press something that was just begging for an injury. I can now perform both. Also I am more aware of back arching where I thought there could not possibly be any. All you need to do is to look at the pictures in "Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" to see that even these professionals had no qualms about using a photograph where there is evidently bad form being used. You can literally see the holes after learning from "The Insider's Tell-All Handbook on Weight-Training Technique". It is also the kind of book that becomes more useful the more you use it. This is by no means a quick-fix booklet but a much needed and much sought after bodybuilding manual. I would certainly read and learn everything in here before I consider any other book outside of it. While the Schwarzenegger bible is a great motivation tool this book is really where you want to focus. Forget all the other books about different training methods until you get perfect form right first and then you will be in a much better position to judge other training methods, especially the ones that tend to have an impact on executing perfect form correctly. For some reason other books and bodybuilders keep making reference to slow and controlled exercising to avoid injury. They erroneously call this `perfect form' from time to time. Injury has nothing to do with the speed or control of the exercise. Injury occurs because of bad form. But once you perfect form you should go slowly. If there is any advocate for `one method' in bodybuilding that can improve on gains then that `one method' is learning perfect form. I will update this review as I do more research/practice. Until then...
Astalavista baby!
*Updates*
- His other book "Brawn" teaches doing the big three progressively for the best gains - Squats, Deadlifts and Bench Press, so learn them and do them.
- Read "Brawn" after you read this.
- read "Beyond Brawn" for advanced training material.
- Watch out for the "Breathing Pullover" exercise. This can cause shoulder discomfort. Stop doing them if you feel your shoulder pulling.
- Pushdowns are for toning triceps not for building tricep muscle. Use dips for that.
- Have someone show you the deadlift before you do any.
- Dumbbell incline bench press on p.93 is not the best. Bring elbows up to shoulder level and dip them slightly. Go slow getting them back into this position.
- He has a book called "Build Muscle, Lose Fat, Look Great!" that has updates on form with other good info.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the single best book on exercise techinique by far., January 6, 1999
I have transformed my skinny, 133 lb. six foot tall gangly physique to 212 lbs. (Went DOWN an inch in my waist in the process). There were "commercial celebrtity" bodybuilding books by the hundred to mislead and waste my valuable time and effort. I can honestly say that I have read them all. While many of them are as thick as as most encyclopedias, they contain little, if any, useful knowledge. Those silly celebrity books were written only for those who enjoy wasting lots of time and effort. This is not a good thing if you want to accomplish something as noble as increasing the strength and health of your body. When INSIDERS came out a few years ago, I was amazed at the truth in its information dense pages! It is my sincere hope that beginners will discover this magnicent book before making the host of huge mistakes that almost everyone makes before they finally learn how to get into shape. I am the founder and owner of an educational personal training gym and am myself a writer. I could not have written a better book than Stuart McRobert if I tried. Hats off to a genuine labor of love. Nothing comes close in illustrating, step-by-step, the detailed safe process of building strength and muscle for beginners or advanced alike. Nothing. Treat this book like you would a master.
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by Stuart McRobert
by Stuart McRobert
