Frederic Delavier
Despite the meathead-looking dude on the front cover, this is my favorite strength-training reference book for men and women alike. Inside you'll find over 100 exercises broken down by body part: 21 for arms, 17 for shoulders, 14 chest, 20 back, 18 legs, 10 buttocks and 15 abdomen.
Usually when people learn exercises for a certain muscle group, they learn one or two moves tops. If I were teaching someone chest exercises, I might show him/her a Bench Press and a Dumbbell Fly. But soon, these two exercises may become boring. Delavier's book provides such a thorough listing of exercises for each body part that even a well-versed body builder could probably find at least one fresh idea for a workout.
Not only does Strength Training offer pages of exercises, it also explains variations on those exercises where appropriate. For example, when performing a Triceps Push-down on the cable, what's the difference between using a bar or the rope as an attachment? How does a push-up change when you narrow the stance of your hands? When lunging, does it make a difference if you take a big step or a small one? These peripheral questions are addressed alongside the main exercise. As further side notes, Delavier covers common errors in form (i.e. rounding the back while squatting) in addition to common weight-lifting injuries.
The illustrations are phenomenal. Paging through, you may feel like you are reading a book specifically for body builders. Admittedly, there are some thick guys and gals pictured. But most importantly, the visual connection of the muscle group working during a given exercise is well-depicted. I was happy to see that men and women were used as models, perhaps helping to dispel the myth about females "bulking up" from strength training. Although, it didn't seem like a coincidence that the Buttocks, Legs and Abdominal sections were female dominated, while the upper body sections were shown using all male models. Hmmmm...too many sociology classes in college maybe...
One final thought...the publisher of Strength Training, Human Kinetics, is a great resource for exercise-related reading. My exercise physiology text from college came through them, in addition to other selections on my bookshelf like Lore of Running, Jumping Into Plyometrics, Strength Ball Training, and Yoga Anatomy. If you end up browsing a store like Borders for a book, I'd recommend checking the spine for the Human Kinetics logo or shopping directly from their website: www.humankinetics.com.
1 comment:
I own this book and forgot that I had it. It is awesome and the fact that it's been through 10 reprints is pretty good evidence of that.
I love the chart which designates a color for each muscle group then shows the muscle groups being worked on each page for the exercise performed. It looks like squats rule.
The section on chin-ups I thought was interesting in that it only showed two positions. I didn't see what I refer to as pull-ups (more because of hand position because I do them with arms parallel, hands facing each other). I think that's easier, maybe not. I wonder if the grips make much difference as far as what is targeted or level of difficulty. And of course I'm using bands as I'm convinced I'll never do more than two unassisted.
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