The Men's Health Big Book of Exercises Hardcover – January 16, 2009

Great book! If you are looking to vary your workouts and exercises or hit a plateau, this is definitely the workout book for you! When you get this in the mail, yo will also be surprised how thick this book is--the spine is two fingers thick and it is 551 pages of color photos.PHOTOS AND EXPLANATIONS OF EXERCISESLots of workouts with easy to understand photos AND explanations. Relies on both photos and description to explain what you need to feel as you do the movement/exercise. This is very helpful because it explains where you need to squeeze or pull to help exercise the muscle properly. There is an index in the back to help fine the exercise or muscles you are looking for too!HELPFUL INFORMATION AND VARIATIONSThe book also provides tidbits on the side which are helpful, such as building muscle by doing certain variations. For example, there are 25 variations and combinations for biceps which you can do for a simple dumbbell curl to work different portions of your biceps! You can use them all to get a fuller shape, which is great to work into a rotation.MUSCLE DIAGRAMSAdditionally, there are muscle diagrams which help you both learn about the muscles you are work. But it also helps you identify what you want to build. If you do not know what muscle it is that you want to grow bigger or stronger, you can go to the muscle diagrams at the front of the chapter to get the name (which is clearly pointed out and explains what it does and what movements target it). Then you can go into the chapter and look for the exercise which works that muscle. For example, ever wonder what that muscle is at the bottom of your biceps that connects to your forearm area? How to work that? It is called the brachioradialis, and you can now go into the chapter and look for exercises that target it!THOROUGH BODYWEIGHT EXERCISESIf you are in an apartment or don't have time to get to a gym some days, there are great bodyweight exercises. This section is thorough and can be done at home, in the office at lunch, or while away on vacation. Most use minimal furniture too, so you can really do most of the exercises with nothing but you and a floor.WORKOUT ROUTINESNot only does this book have just workouts, but it also has some great workout routines for different goals. There are routines are generally broken down for strength building, endurance, and fat-burning. There are also routines to do at home with minimal equipment, such as just dumbbells, which will really challenge you and make a difference such as spartacus or the wheel. Many of the workouts also explain how you can vary them too to make them easier or harder.NUTRITION AND MEALSThere is also a section about nutrition and healthier eating for your hard workouts. This is also helpful and gives meal plans, but I wouldn't say it is anything you could not find online. If you are an absolutely beginner and don't know where to look, this will certainly help!

This book intrigued me after I started doing the much publicized "Spartacus Workout" from Men's Health, which a friend had ripped out of their copy of the magazine. I really enjoyed it, and when I looked it up on the website they had a little plug for this recently published book.Well, I have to say, this book is phenomenal -- especially for the price being offered on Amazon. I found the division of the exercises extremely coherent and logical -- each body part is given a section, with a "Main Move" that the other exercises stem from. For example, the main weightlifting move for quads and calves is the basic barbell squat, fully explained and with a full page photographic spread. Master the Main Move, and you'll be set for variations, etc.I was also pleased by the sheer breadth of body weight exercises offered in the book. For those of us who can't always get to the gym, this is a great resource, since there are some extremely challenging body weight variations to exercises for when lifting is impossible.Using this book to craft your own routines is a breeze, as it has both advice on how to optimize your lifting/cardio patterns, as well as pre-made workouts for different fitness goals in the back of the book. It gives equal weight to different lifting philosophies and their objectives -- low weight high rep vs. high rep low weight, for example. Additionally, each body part section has a workout tailored specifically to that body part, which is great if you're chasing after Schwarzenegger biceps or six pack abs. These are typically advised only one every four days are so, so you can just integrate them with another workout from the book, or your personal workout.Nutrition information is also covered, and the "Food Myths" section is particularly interesting. It's not a full-fledged diet plan per se, but since this is a big book of EXERCISES, it's a nice bonus.I highly recommend this book whether you're interested in a resource to craft your fitness routine, or if you just want to learn some new variations to your favorite standby exercises. It's a great primer for total body health, with lifting, cardio, nutrition, and even advice on the indispensable equipment for your home gym, and where to find it. I've never had so much fun spending time planning new ways to punish myself in the gym.

There a hundreds of books like this, full of exercises and how to do them. This is no different. It has recommended routines at the end of each each body section, and whole body routines at the back which are nice. No, this is no different than just about any other weight lifting book, but it is a nice weight lifting book.

Excelentes ejercicios, bien explicados, gráfico, super completo.

Purchased a used book described as “good” condition and I was very happy to find the condition was excellent and exceeded my expectations.As far as the contents, I bought the book for my 16 year old son and it looks to be a great introductory guide to fitness from what I can tell.

u only need this book and nothing else.obviously u need to customize a personal plan. Use this book for targetting muscle groups. Great pics, variations, can ask for more.

Es como una pequeña enciclopedia de ejercicios con explicaciones y fotos. Probablemente el mejor libro que tengo sobre la materia. Si lo compras esperando encontrar muchas rutinas de entrenamiento olvídate, este es para quienes tienen suficiente experiencia como para deisérselas ellos o ellas mismas.Si me piden que proponga una mejora, yo añadiría links o códigos QR a videos con la ejecución de los ejercicios y ya sería un libro perfecto.

This is definitely the best exercise book I have ever read. While the numbers of exercises may at first seem overwhelming, the book is very approachable because is so well organized. It has clear, concise and easy to follow instructions, together with illustrations of how to perform each exercise. I like the method of showing main moves for each set of exercises, together with variations. As an example, the first main move in the chest section is the push up, followed by 24 variations of this exercise. Other chest main moves, followed by variations, include the dip, bench press, etc. At the end of each anatomical chapter a core set of exercises is given to build the "perfect" chest, back, arms, etc. The chapters on nutrition, how to design your own program, etc., are very well written and understandable by anyone, whether experienced bodybuilder, or newcomer to resistance training. Anyone wanting to understand and perform exercises in the most effective way will benefit. There are also very helpful chapters devoted to core, total body, warm up exercises, best cardio exercises. In summary, this book is a complete guide to exercise, whether one wishes to use only body weight exercises, or use weights and/or machines. I strongly recommend it to every one. Although women could benefit from this book, they would no doubt obtain more benefit from the companion volume, "The Big Book of Exercises for Women".