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Bodybuilding 101 : Everything You Need to Know to Get the Body You Want
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List Price:
$17.95
Fitness-Health-Care Price:
$13.46
Your Savings: $ 4.49 ( 25% )
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 646.75
EAN: 9780809227846
ISBN: 0809227843
Label: McGraw-Hill
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 1999-04-11
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Studio: McGraw-Hill
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Editorial Reviews:
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From the pages of Muscle & Fitness magazine comes Bodybuilding 101, a complete motivational how-to guide based on Robert Wolff's immensely popular column in the world-renowned fitness magazine. Covering everything from nutrition basics, common training mistakes, and powerful mental strategies to specialized training for your body type and the 22 best machine exercises, Bodybuilding 101 appeals to men and women of all ages, from beginner to advanced fitness enthusiast--anyone who desires a stronger, firmer, and shapelier body but does not have the know-how to achieve it. In order to help explain exercises step-by-step, Bodybuilding 101 contains more than 200 photos by the best physique and exercise photographers in the industry. Robert Wolff is a true fitness and motivation authority who has helped thousands reach their absolute best. Let him show you the way to achieve incredible, lifetime-lasting results in the quickest way possible. Robert Wolff, Ph.D., lectures throughout the world on fitness, motivation, and high-level success principles. He has worked with such fitness legends as Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Lee Haney, Steve Reeves, Lou Ferrigno, Rachel McLish, and Cory Everson and has been published in Shape, Men's Fitness, and Flex. "Of all the writers who have written for my magazines, one of the best who's changed the lives of people through bodybuilding and motivation is Robert Wolff. He has the uncanny ability for discovering the subtleties that turn a good exercise into a great one and for cutting through the hype to explain it to the average man and woman in easy and motivating ways that they'll understand and remember." --Joe Weider "No other physical activity can change your body faster than bodybuilding, and no other writer and book can give you the real priceless jewels of training wisdom learned from years of gym workouts and working alongside the greatest names in the sport like Robert Wolff and Bodybuilding 101. This book will be a guide that you'll refer to time and time again because Robert Wolff's inspirational message is timeless." --Cory Everson, six-time Ms. Olympia and bestselling author "Robert Wolff is in a class of his own. Few writers can capture the muscle and soul of bodybuilding like him. You're holding a book written by the man who can give you a priceless world of knowledge and save you much wasted time and frustration." --Lee Haney, eight-time Mr. Olympia and world champion bodybuilder "What a breath of fresh air it is to have someone who really knows his stuff come along and write a book with information that works incredibly well. Robert Wolff is such a writer, and Bodybuilding 101 is a book that can get you in great shape much quicker than you ever thought possible." --Rachel McLish, two-time Ms. Olympia and bestselling author "Robert Wolff shares the same passion for the sport of natural bodybuilding that I have, and he has intuitive understanding of and in-the-gym knowledge about all aspects of training. It's with pleasure that I highly recommend his book. His message and book will change your physique and your life!" --Steve Reeves, former Mr. American and Mr. Universe
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Come Back to Weightlifting
Comment: If you're wanting to get back into weightlifting, this book will give you the inspiration and tips you need. This book is the perfect supplement to your class or personal trainer
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Additional Reading Required
Comment: The title of this book makes it sound like a beginner's college course in the subject of body building. In my experience, a course like this should have one of two thrusts.
1. An Overview: The book should cover all aspects of the subject, but in a very broad, somewhat superficial way. Bodybuilding 101 covers training and diet, and it covers intermediate and advanced techniques. But, if it's supposed to be an overview, I'm surprised there isn't a section about posing, and competitive body building.
Or:
2. A Beginner's How-To: The book should present detailed information for a beginner to have a clear picture of what to do if he/she wants to start down the road of a bodybuilder. If that's the case, there just isn't enough information to start a weight training program. The book serves as a good supplement for someone working with a trainer or a workout partner with more experience.
If you're a total beginner, and want to learn to workout on your own, the book offers inspiration and some useful information, but you're going to have to buy some other books or do some research to really get an understanding of proper form with the exercises he promotes. I've lifted before, and bought this book because I was coming back to weight lifting. For where I'm at, it's a pretty enjoyable book. He has good suggestions on what exercises to focus on, and he doesn't get bogged down in scientific theory. I also like his views of challenging yourself, and constant experimentation, and stressing we're each unique with different needs and different paths to success. I can't complain about the way information is organized. It's very perusable. However, if you're the type of person who wants to be told step 1 on page 1, then step 2 on page 2, etc., you'll be pretty frustrated.
My biggest complaints are with the detail. He doesn't give enough info about form for the individual exercises. More photos would be very useful. For some exercises, he has a couple photos showing beginning and ending positions. Other exercises will only have one photo, and a few exercises don't have any photos associated with them at all. There are a few useless photos in sections about rest and eating habits that I'm sure were just stuffed in there for no other reason than to break up the copy.
Overall, I'm happy with the book, but if you're an absolute beginner, and think you'll be able to start a lifting program with nothing other than this book, you'll be dissatisfied.
Bodybuilding 101: C+
Customer Rating:
Summary: Would have earned five stars with some change in attitude.
Comment: The author has compromised his hard work and insightful views by relishing his machismo. It portrays Bodybuilding as a mindless activity obsessed with sex, muscle mass, and physical appearance at the expense of graceful fitness, as follows.
1-The book cover is repulsive to a great segment of readers (in my opinion). It further conveys a sense of physical emptiness. That obsession of showing sexually attractive, yet mentally shallow, is prevalent in the book photos.
2- The first page of the book shows a person laying his shoe on the barbell. That is both demeaning to the sport and unhygienic. The part of the barbell that touches the lifter skin should not come in contact with the sole of the shoes.
3- The very second page shows a hunk squatting in 135 lb barbell and wearing a belt. Waist belts are the worst advertisement for bodybuilding. The rest of the book will amplify thas philosophy of stiff and inflexible lifters.
4- The most annoying part of the book is the photos of young people drinking, eating, laying on grass, and thinking. I am not kidding! That made me resists spending the $17.95, though I liked many things about the book. I might change my mind though and give it a ride home. The book does have many good ideas.
5- Many photographed people in the book look weird, either drugged or otherwise. Many faces look pathetic, not because of lack of physical attraction but rather of angry facial expressions. It conveys a sense of an endemic psychological disturbance among bodybuilders.
6- The unfortunate trend in the book is the total lack of stretching, flexibility, or sound skeletal fitness. The whole book is about getting big, strong, and cut. Many bodybuilders achieved those goals yet subjected themselves to spinal injuries, life-long joint disease, and unhealthy overweight. There is no single lift in the book that started from the floor and made full travel overhead, which is ironic, unscientific, and unfortunate.
The positive contribution in the book is plenty as well.
1- The author is clearly well organized with high abstract skills. His chapters are beautifully written, concise, rational, and focused. The author is genuine and knowledgeable. He does not sell the moon or the stars, but rather conveys what he has learned and what worked for him. That is where the worth of author's experience counts. I suspect that the author bought into someone's ill advice for the design of his book cover for commercial purpose.
2- The book offers very effective methods of excelling in bodybuilding by its emphasis on intensity. It is realistic in stressing that 90 days would not do the magic that others claim. It is realistic on exercise planning, except its obsession with peripheral muscles. I wish the author revisits Newton's laws of mechanics in order to figure out why huge arms and shoulders, with insecure low back, is not the best way to educate people about building muscles.
3- The invaluable wealth in the book is its emphasis on constant changing of routine, plenty of sleep and rest (that is the best approach), and its simple and clear understanding of the fundamental exercises such Squat and Deadlift. I dreaded the front squat with crossed arms. It is not right to wait until you lose shoulder flexibility and become unable to flex your elbows and shoulders in such improper front squat.
4- Many exercise photos in the book are inspiring to beginners. It demonstrates that physical improvement is feasible with behavior modification.
5- The peak triumph in the book is the discussion of exercising all body parts with different exercises of different ratios of sets and repetitions. Here, where you learn some lasting knowledge from an experienced author.
One might argue that engaging in bodybuilding is more productive than succumbing to sedentary living, drugs, smoking, or alcohol. Yet, the many years bodybuilders devote bulking up should not be wasted in compromising future health with inflexible joints, damaged internal organs, and irreversible side effects of overweight. High mobility and full range of motion of joints should improve the quality of life of bodybuilders. The top bodybuilders I followed in my over 40 years of training either struggled with kidney problems, lower back and knee problems, high blood pressure, or loss of great opportunities of professional and educational gain because of the extreme indulgence of building massive muscles that are hard to keep atop. The sadistic drive for big and strong should be substituted by graceful and strong. And habitual smiling comforts the soul as well.
Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointed - it says do it, but doesn't say how to do it.
Comment: I bought this book recently and I'm disappointed at it. It only has one page with the exercise plan just listing the exercises you should do in the beginning phase. But, IT DOES NOT EXPLAIN HOW TO PERFORM THEM. It only shows pictures of just some of the exercises he lists. All in all, buy this book for advice and stories about the weight training life rather than how to do it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 5 stars? You gotta be kidding me..
Comment: How is it that Wolff's books get such great reviews? I'm not going to rehash the negative points. Search the reviews for the scant few that gave less than 4 or 5 stars. I think there is some kind of "circle of friends" going around giving 5-star reviews and then going back saying that they found each other's reviews to be helpful. The books certainly are not helpful. Reviewer SBJ400, while having some good reviews on other products, has basically cut and pasted reviews from one Wolff book to another and given them all 5 stars. If you want to get started-out in weight training I'd suggest anything from the "Men's Health" line of products or anything that Lou Schuler has been associated with (even though he is no longer with Men's Health). As far as I'm concerned, "The Book of Muscle" has been pretty much the seminal treatise on weight training for the past couple of years. I've read probably 50 other books on the subject, and none of them has any information that one doesn't have in it.
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