[.ca] Getting Stronger: Weight Training for Men and Women (ISBN 0936070242)

I've used this for twelve years- Outstanding:
This excellent book has been around for years and is still one of the greatest resources anyone can use to increase their physical strength or just get in shape. There are really few books out there of this quality that one can really claim are "for everyone". This is one of them. Pearl breaks it down for the reader. You can plan your exercises around which sport you want to improve at or which body parts you want to emphasize. Each exercise or series of exercises is also layered according to fitness level. A great resource for anyone. I've used this book for fourteen years and have gone through a couple of them \oone criticism is the paper cover- a hardback version would be excellent\c. An excellent exercise and training resource: Highly recommended.

The Pocket Encyclopedia of Resistance Training:
As a personal trainer I use this book as my bible. It includes nearly every imaginable way to work every major muscle group. It is well organized and easy to understand. Exercises are grouped by body part and cross indexed for specific sports and recreational activities. The proper form and breathing are described for each exercise. The only exercises that not are not included are functional training exercises such as Pilates and stability balls.

Great collection of exercises, narrow focus:
This book contains very extensive collection of exercises depicted in simple, hand-drawn diagrammatic format. The author's experience is well portrayed in the form of consistent reasoning of building physical strength, avoiding injuries, and coping with adaptation to training. The so many exercises listed in this book are described in very simple manner without detailed explanation of their anatomical or functional benefits. Thus, you have groups of exercises for the back, thighs, triceps, etc without any distinguishing criteria on which exercise should be chosen for a specific goal. The author only describes few levels of fitness (beginner, medium, and advanced) and assigns certain exercises to certain levels without explaining his disposition. The author randomly assigns exercise routines to blue-color workers, white-color workers, swimmers, boxers, wrestlers, ...etc without any compelling reasoning other than his unquestionable self-confidence. When you see an author with huge arms and shoulders that exceed the size of his thighs (see the front cover photo) you wonder if Mr. Pearl realizes the danger of developing unbalanced musculoskeletal frame. How would his knees fare in lifting such disproportionately heavy upper body with disproportionately weak thighs? I would not trust Mr. Pearl to plan long-term training strategy other than merely "getting stronger" which might mean becoming unbalanced, stiff-jointed, and chair-bound. All exercises in this book will help building muscular strength. However, they devoid of any full range floor-to-overhead lifting. The only floor-to-upright lifting is the deadlift and shoulder shrugs. The front squat exercises are faulty in the way the arms cross the chest to lie on opposite shoulders. The proper technique is to enhance wrist and shoulder range-of-motion without crisscrossing the forearms during front squat.

Great book but...:
This book has tons of exercises. But there are a few unsafe exercises recommended for beginner programs like stiff-leg barbell good morning, stiff-leg dead-lift with the hands go down almost to the ankles, and various ab exercises with the barbell resting behind the neck. These exercises are bad for your lower back and most weight training books now stay away from those. But these exercises may be good if they are done without weight, or substituting the barbell with a broom. But this book covers a lot of ground. It is an encyclopedia of execises, exercise routines, diet, etc. It also have many guest contributors like Bob Anderson on stretching and others for weight training for sports. But the execise programs for these sport specifics look almost the same. Bill Pearl,who has been around for a long time, is a wise man. He appears to be sincere, safety conscious, and motivating. But, I don't think that beginners should buy this as the only book. One should buy severals and makes her own judgement on what program is best to her.

Good, no-fuss book:
This book is a mandatory book during my undergraduate Weight Tranining class and it's one of the books that I have kept all these years. The specific and very graphical presentation for each excercise is very easy to follow and because several excercise working on the same muscle group are classified together at the end of the book (all the exercises are numbered and summarized), you could easily choose another exercise that suit you/your equipment better. This is a perfect book for persons who have received some guidance (classes, training) before. If you start weight training from zero, although some programs are also presented inside this book and they can be easily followed, you may need some help from a real person to guide and tailor it for you.