The Men's Health Gym Bible (ISBN 1594864888)

Some editing problems so read carefully:
The topics covered in the book are wide ranging and informative but the editing in some parts leave little to be desired. For example, in chapter 13 on the Muscle-Building Workout, the instructions and the actual layout of the workouts don't coincide. The instructions say the leg workouts should be done as straight sets but in workout B, the first two leg exercises are listed as A1 and A2, suggesting a superset. Also, the instructions explained the workouts as upper body/lower body, upper body /lower body but the 1st upper body workout includes the Bulgarian Split Squat and the 2nd upper body workout includes Cable Pull Through, both leg movements. The 2nd upper body workout also has Lateral Raise as part of an arm tri-set. I'm guessing it should've been in the shoulder portion instead, where it shows a superset of Hang Clean and DB Shoulder Press. Other errors I noted were the illustrations of the various machines. The Seated Calf Raise on page 212 looks an awful lot like a Preacher Curl Machine to me and is that really a 45 degree Leg Press Machine on page 208? On page 282, that doesn't look like a Glute Hame Raise Machine. There are others but you get the idea. There's a lot of good information in this book but unfortunately, the editing mistakes may leave novice lifters confused about what machines they're actually looking at in their gym and whether they're conducting their exercises in the proper order.

Great resource...with some editing problems:
This book does a very good job of de-mystifying the gym work out. There are quite a few devices and gizmos that I was never quite sure how to use, and this book explains what they do and how to use them. Also, it does a very good job of categorizing different exercises, providing many ways to work different muscle groups. For instance, chest exercises using no weights, free weights, bars, benches, cages, machines, etc. Having more options at my disposal makes it easier to work out. There are some editing problems, as noted in another review. The most annoying for me was the inconsistency between some of the charts and the written-out explanations for certain routines. Specifically, the muscle-building exercise program in chapter 13 is exactly what I was looking for...except that the chart and the workout expalanation don't match up. They are inconsistent regarding when to superset, the order of the exercises, and duration. I actually went to some online body-building forums to get some ideas on how to best implement the routine. But the bottom line is that the book has been helpful, and has provided me additional motivation to get to the gym and try different things.

Very happy with this purchase:
After months of stealing my brother's Men's Health magazines, I finally bought a book to call my own. That was a few months ago. I (as a woman) had gotten so bored with the plie squates, donkey kicks, and various other "girly" moves from the women's mags. I needed something else to up the intensity. This book was the exact turning point in my physical reinvention...It really helped me get into resistance training/lifting and it did more for my body than any elliptical trainer or donkey kick could ever do. Never mind that the cover says Men's Health... This book gives you all sorts of ideas on how to hit the same muscle groups several different ways on several different machines. It's really great for super-setting and/or giving you other options if your machine is taken and you don't want to work in with someone else. Beautiful, beautiful muscle failure...Granted, some of the moves are obviously not meant for a "female shape"...(After all, how many women do you see doing shrugs with a barbell?) but I've been very pleased with this book overall, and it definitely busted a lot of my gym boredom and kept me going back in. I wish more men would read this book (or at least look at the pictures). Maybe then they'd realize how ridiculous they look when they're trying to muscle weight that's too heavy, rather than focusing on better form...or not popping an eye out.

The title says it all!:
This is a concise and straight forward text. The illustrations and context are simple. That is all you need. No wasted time with unnecessary information. That means more time to workout. Try also the other "Men's Health" books. These are the best I have read and are still using. I've been working out ever since high school, college, and into the present in lacrosse, Brazilian jiu jitsu, muay thai kick boxing, snowboarding and mountain biking. If you're not into reading long drawn out "how-to" books and want nothing but the meat and potatoes get to the point workout aides then this is it. Get it done and stay in shape with this! This is for weekend warriors to hard core health fanatics!

Gym rats handbook:
This is a very helpful book to get some new routines into your gym workouts. The illustrations are really good and helps make use of the gym facilities. Being able to see which groups of exercises help to benefit the different muscle groups is very helpful. I've used this book to incorporate variety into the gym routine and my son hass checked it out and likes the ease of use with the book. The organization is very good for the novice or intermediate gym rat. If you don't have a personal trainer than this book will do the trick. Recommended for gym rats of all ages.