Starting Strength (2nd edition)
by Lon Kilgore, Mark Rippetoe
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Book Reviews of Starting Strength (2nd edition)
Book Review: Not Your Typical Bodybuidling Book
Summary: 5 Stars
This book will open the eyes of many experienced lifters. Those of us raised on complicated workout routines, giant sets, negative reps, specialized sculpting exercises designed to bring out "more rhomboid definition" for competitive bodybuilders, etc.
It gives compelling arguments for using basic, multi-joint barbell exercises to improve strength, power and athletic performance.
While it gives the reader ample information to apply the fundemental lifts and programming principles to specialized applications such as bodybuilding, it's focus remains squarely on utilitarian strength and power development vs. asthetics or other specialized applications.
After reading through just the introduction, I became a convert to the arguments made for maximizing strength over the elusive six-packed, veiny beach body (no offense intended to those who wish to pursue that goal).
As others have said in these reviews, I only wish I could have read it many years ago.
Book Review: Best back squat explanation, HANDS DOWN
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is, hands down, the best explanation of the basic barbell lifts, especially the barbell backsquat, ever put on paper. It also taught me that all the myriad of lifts the muscle and fitness magazines have are a waste of time for 95% of the general population.
The majority of this book is the explanation of the 5 core barbell lifts: Squats, bench press, shoulder press, the deadlift, and power cleans. While it also has a chapter on auxiliary exercises, learning the core lifts properly from this book has made me see that you need very little else besides these core lifts to get strong in a very real way. I gained more brute strength from a few months of real barbell training with these 5 lifts than years of aimless workouts gleaned from fitness magazines.
Bottom line: If you want to know how to do REAL lifts the RIGHT way, and get rid of all the garbage you see most people wasting their time on in gyms and get this book! I WISH I had had this book when I was younger.
Book Review: Great buy if looking to improve your form
Summary: 4 Stars
I read only one chapter so far. The Bench Press. Where I felt I needed the most improvement and sculpting. I've been lifting for a few years doing mainly light weights no more than one 45 and doing high reps 12-15 because I thought that's how you get cut, but only recently have gotten serious - I'm now 5lbs away from two 45s on each side, 5x5. It has been great, I see more definition and people ask me do I work out, and that my chest is getting bigger now. It also feels great in the gym after a benching now, before I wouldn't really feel it in my chest, but now, my chest is always pumped after a couple sets, and I actually cant wait to the next workout to get that feeling again! I only gave it a 4 because it only briefly mentions how to protect your wrist as I have sprained my wrist/hand twice now from lifting heavy weights, and had to take a day off from lifting to recover once. Definitely be warned you can easily injure yourself using the methods outlined in the book.Book Review: The Best
Summary: 5 Stars
Reading Starting Strength is the best weight training instruction I've ever had. The best features are that the basic program is simple, really works (there are so many recommendations out there, it confused me for a long time), and the book has an entire chapter for each lift, with complete details including correct posture, grip, breathing, and common errors. The only things left out (which may have been fixed in the new edition, I have the first) are a few details that relative newbies like me don't know, like exactly how much cardio warmup to do.
But the real reason I love this book is my personal experience with it. I've done some weight training before, but not for some years, and I slowly took it up again last year. I found this book and started using it for real at the beginning of 2008. I started gaining strength a lot faster than I had been, and now I'm stronger than I've ever been before and still adding weight every workout.
Book Review: Should be MANDATORY for all lifters.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been lifting for many years. I had to take some "humble pills" after I read the book. Just when I thought I knew what I was doing, I realized I was a big dweeb.
This is by far the best book on how to safely and correctly lift weights. You can follow the best bodybuilding or powerlifting program, but the best regimen is not going to do you any good if you injure yourself because of improper lifting.
I wish I had access to this book when I first started bodybuilding years ago.
New guys, please do yourselves a favor and put this book in your library. If you want to progress you would want to do so by optimizing your body's neuro-muscular activation while preventing injuries.
Experienced guys, please do yourselves a favor as well and keep an open mind and realize that there is a possiblity that how your lift weights may actually injure you down the road.