The Strength Training Anatomy Workout: Starting Strength with Bodyweight Training and Minimal Equipment

None of the reviews thus far have addressed how Strength Training Anatomy and the Strength Training Anatomy Workout books differ, so you might be wondering which one to buy. Strength Training Anatomy, 3rd Edition, is a reference book--it's got really cool drawings with tips for common techniques at the gym. It's no-nonsense and great for weight-lifters who have a great routine already but want to optimize it, or for the intellectual athlete who wants to gain a greater understanding of muscles in motion. The Strength Training Anatomy Workout will teach beginners how to start and athletes how to optimize strength for their sport. It goes into breathing techniques while lifting, how many sets and reps one should perform, how often to work out, etc. Delavier and Gundill have lots of drawings, pre-planned routines including those to supplement other sports, and succinct advice to get the most out of every technique. Important to note, it focuses on working out with weights and resistance bands and eschews gym equipment. If you want to work out at home, it's great, if you want to join a gym, you'll need Volume II. Strength Training Anatomy Workout Volume II will show you how to make the most of the gym if you want some serious strength training. It has many different routines, the low-down on all the equipment you'll find at the gym, great advice on optimizing every technique, and even more drawings to help guide you to excellent technique. This is the book to get if you want to get into body building. Overall, these books are great. Delavier and Gundill translate their extensive anatomy and weight-lifting knowledge into language anyone can understand and information is succinct so reading's a pleasure. Do they work? I gained 15 lbs in 6 months after having plateaued with my previous, self-made routine.

I've never worked out I just worked ( construction ) , I got Hurt . Now I'm OLD and Retired , But I've been Feeling Sickly and Weak . I can watch You Tube or something and they say Trapaziods , Deltoids , Quads etc. I Don't know what those are - Muscles etc. BUT This Book has Pictures and Descriptions & instructions . And so I'm Happy , it Helped me out ! Good Book for MY Needs .

Great illustrations ! Great information ! Good for beginners. Even better for intermediates and pros in that you can really see what you have been doing already. Some of these books have explanations about injuries and prevention. As they indicate they spell out exercises for different athletes to stress. I've been lifting for over 45 years and am astonished by what goes on in the weight rooms. Some of the "exercises" people do are useless, some are dangerous. Most people lift far too lightly to get all but incidental benefit. (That being said, if you are just starting out go light on the weights with proper form !!! One must train the ligaments and tendons first ! Those take longer to train than muscles.) To this end I have purchased several of these to be put in the weight training and stretching areas of the gym I use just so people can "see" what they are doing and to learn other ways to do it. Ahnold said, "I get ten times the results when I visualize the mahcells I am training ! " He should know ! . . . Additionally, research has shown that people get more benefit from aerobic training when they don't distract themselves with Ipods or TV.. Just a thought.

I like this as a general resource, in that it covers multiple approaches and tactics in the weight room. The illustrations are generally excellent, but in a few places, reusing previously published material was weak, in that some improvements could have been made. Lazy! Also, the emphasis is on adding bulk and looking good. Some focus on stabilizing ones core, on other means of injury protection would have been appreciated. And, like most such books, the assumption is that the reader is young. Some suggestions for older lifters would have been beneficial.

Excellent and interesting

This book comes with Delavier's traditional detailed anatomical drawings of exactly which muscles are used in which workouts. It's organized into three parts. The first part gives a detailed description of how to create your own workout plan and everything to take note of, as well as all the different styles of workout plans. It's an excellent course for beginners just learning how to train. The second part includes descriptions of a number of different exercises, along with anatomical illustrations and tips for how to do the exercise, common errors, potential injuries, number of reps, etc. The third part includes a number of detailed workout plans, ranging from a beginners starting plan to more advanced plans for athletes in their individual sports. All in all, the Strength Training Anatomy Workout is a great way to get started with strength training or to refine your program and get a good idea of which exercises use which muscles.

I find myself agreeing with the author(s) that working out at home is better than going to the gym and I find their comments on the various excellent exercises they present to be genuinely helpful. I found, for example, a discussion of impingement syndrome (which I have suffered from for over two years) genuinely illuminating. It connects shoulder impingement with over-training of the front and lateral deltoids and under training of the rear deltoids and the infraspinatus (muscle over shoulder blade) - and it connects this syndrome with nerve compression. I have not seen such a good discussion - and after only a very short time of acting on this analysis my shoulders feel better than they have even after weeks and weeks of physical therapy. Big book, well set out, great breakdown of all the good exercises and helpful list of programmes to help you use the exercises for various purposes. This is one of the most intelligent discussions of exercise principles and one of the best selection of exercises and exercise programmes that I have discovered to date.

If you don't know where to start, then get this book.

In meinen Augen gehören die Bücher von Frédéric Delavier zur Pflichtlektüre für jeden, der beim Thema Kraftsport gerne auch mal den Blick über den Tellerrand wirft. Ich habe vor einigen Jahren eine deutsche Version von Delavier, den "Muskel Guide" erworben und war sofort begeistert von der Aufmachung der Lektüre. Zum Aufbau des Buches: Der Inhalt auf den knapp 260 Seiten ist aufgeteilt in 3 Kapitel inklusive einem Vorwort bzw. einer Einleitung. Kapitel 1 befasst sich mit allgemeinen Themen rund um den Kraftsport. Neben den anatomischen und physiologischen Grundlagen werden gängige Dinge wie Auf- und Abwärmen, Diät, Ausrüstung und vieles mehr behandelt. Hauptfokus des 60 Seiten starken Kapitels liegt jedoch in der Erläuterung grundlegender Trainingsprinzipien (z. B. Supersätze, Negativwiederholungen, abgefäschte Wiederholungen, Supersätze etc.). Die Ausführungen des Kapitels sind in Anbetracht der Tatsache, dass es sich um ein Übungshandbuch handelt, relativ knapp, aber dennoch ausreichend informativ gehalten. Kapitel 2, das Hauptkapitel des Buches, stellt auf ca. 160 Seiten die einzelnen Übungen im Detail vor. Es sei erwähnt, dass hier die Basisübungen für jede Muskelgruppe im Vordergrund stehen, wenngleich auch speziellere Übungen zum Zuge kommen. Als Ergänzung sei hier bereits auf The Strength Training Anatomy Workout 2 verwiesen. Das Kapitel ist den jeweiligen Muskelgruppen nach in Unterkapitel aufgeteilt (Brust, Rücken, Arme, Schulter, Bauch, Beine, Po und sogar die Atemmuskulatur, insbesondere das Zwerchfell). Jedes Unterkapitel beginnt mit einer für Delavier typischen, skizzenhaften, anatomischen Darstellung der einzelnen Muskeln der entsprechenden Muskelgruppe, bevor der Übergang zu den einzelnen Übungen vollzogen wird. Jede der vorgestellten Übungen ist ausreichend bebildert (Fotos), es werden hierbei stets Ausgangs- und Endposition der jeweiligen Übung gezeigt. Jedem Foto unterliegt zusätzlich eine textliche Übungsbeschreibung. Eine anatomische Skizze der jeweils beteiligten Muskeln rundet diesen Grundaufbau einer jeden Übungsbeschreibung ab. Dieser Grundaufbau wird durch folgende Punkte ergänzt / vervollständigt: - Vorteile / Nachteile, - Variationsmöglichkeiten, - Nützliche Tipps / Hinweise zur Ausführung und / oder Körperhaltung, - Bemerkungen, - Dehntechniken für die beteiligten Muskeln. Das abschließende dritte Kapitel behandelt auf etwas mehr als 30 Seiten Trainingsprogramme und -prinzipien für Männer und Frauen. Das Kapitel schließt mit einer Zusammenstellung sportartspezifischer Trainingsprogramme bzw. Übungen (z. B. Kraftübungen für Kampfsportler, Leichtathleten oder Hockeyspieler). Fazit / subjektive Bewertung: Auch wenn es vermutlich kein Buch jemals schaffen wird, die Qualität einer Übungsvorstellung durch qualifizierte Trainer zu erreichen, so halte ich diese Lektüre dennoch für mit das Beste, was der Markt zu diesem Thema in Schriftform zu bieten hat. Der Fokus des Buches (Kapitel 2) liegt, wie bereits der Titel vermuten lässt, auf einer umfangreichen Sammlung von Kraftübungen, welche über die Basisübungen einer jeden Muskelgruppe hinaus reicht. Die bebilderten Übungsbeschreibungen sind klar und verständlich formuliert, ergänzt und vervollständigt werden sie durch Variationsmöglichkeiten, nützlichen Hinweisen / Bemerkungen sowie Vor- und Nachteilen. Kapitel 1 (allgemeine Grundlagen, Trainingsprinzipien) und Kapitel 3 (nach Geschlecht getrennte Übungsprogramme, sportartspezifische Übungen) stellen eine nette Ergänzung der Thematik dar. Hier sollte man allerdings nicht zu viel erwarten, in dieser Hinsicht bleibt das Buch recht oberflächlich. Wer auf der Suche nach einem umfassenden Übungskompendium zum Thema Kraftsport ist, der darf getrost zu der Lektüre von Delavier greifen. In Kombination mit Band 2 ( The Strength Training Anatomy Workout 2 ) ist man damit bestens gerüstet für die nächsten Wochen, Monate und Jahre im Studio.

Very educational

Very good

This book is aimed at people who want to improve muscle size, strength and/or stamina, with a particularly strong focus on increasing muscle size. The first part details the mechanics of muscle development in clear terms, broken into compact, headed sections which are aided by diagrams and photos. The information is all of interest and it nicely explains why weight training sessions follow a particular structure. The second part then acts as an encyclopaedia of strength training exercises for the arms, shoulders, chest, back, neck, thighs and calves. Each exercise is illustrated with anatomical drawings and photographs to make clear the correct form of the exercise. Advice and warnings are given to help you to improve effectiveness and reduce risk, and in most cases each exercise offers variations to target different goals. The descriptions and photos make it easy to be confident that you're performing the exercise correctly, and the warnings make you aware of how to avoid injury. The third part provides numerous weight training programmes, the first few intended for increasing muscle size across the body, the latter intended for athletes and sportsmen who want to improve muscle strength to gain better performance and ward off injuries. These programmes allow you to get started quickly without having to design your own routine, and the large number of exercises listed in the previous part of the book make it easy to select new exercises once you're making good progress and want to pursue particular goals. Whether you seek to improve your muscle strength, size or stamina, or just have a curiosity about muscle development, this book is an excellent reference.