Stephen CabralBesprekingen

A nice introduction to weight training. The different programs and routines target specific fitness goals and show what equipment (dumbbells and barbells) is needed. Nicely presented with simple step-by-step instructions and photos of start and end positions. The book repeats the same exercise descriptions, if an exercise is used in different programs.

This is a good book for beginners. The strengths are the planned workouts, the simplicity of the exercises, and the pictures associated with each exercise. The workouts and exercises are pretty straightforward, with mostly dumbbells/barbells required. The workouts are well explained, with the associated exercises pictured (though often duplicated elsewhere in the book).
This is a more beginner friendly book than most on the subject.

Most of the useful information I have about weightlifting comes from The New Rules of Lifting for Men by Lou Schuler (a blurber on this book) and Alwyn Cosgrove, which has been my bible for about two years running. But, if held to a fire, I'd admit most any such workout book is fine, as long as it gets off the shelf.

Stephen Cabral's entry distinguishes itself from the book above with its quantity of planned workouts: seven, plus two starter workouts to Schuler/Cosgrove's three. Each workout also has a page with instructions and pictures and a Training Tip, my favorite recurring feature through the whole book because it hones in on the usefulness of the exercise and common problems with form.

My only complaints are minor. The "Pure Strength" and "Strength and Power" workouts would need a marketing professional to tell them apart. And the "Core Power" and "Hardcore Body Weight Training" chapters, though solid, will be novelties to your average aspring musclehead.

I'll keep this book around to supplement my months-long journeys through Schuler and Cosgrove's Hypertrophy and Strength programs. Cabral has a lot to offer here, but his programs are not the long, multi-stage adventures I prefer. They'll make great supplements between those programs.

I’ve been using free-weights for over ten years so I consider myself an intermediate lifter. While I can’t attest to the book’s cover claim to “Transform Your Body in 6 Weeks,” (I really dislike cheesy claims like that on fitness books.) I can say it’s a decent book for beginners.

The book is divided into a dozen different programs and routines to meet your specific fitness goals. Most exercises require some equipment, mostly dumbbells and barbells, so these workouts are better suited to a gym but you may be able to adapt them for home use. The movements are all straight-forward and there’s nothing too exotic or beyond the capabilities of most. The publisher did a nice job on the layout of this manual. Each exercise is on a separate page, includes simple step-by-step instructions and has a photo for start and end positions.

One thing that really bothers me about this book is the number of wasted pages to bulk it up. If an exercise is used in multiple programs, the instruction page for that exercise is repeated. For example, dips are presented on pages 96, 187 and 227. So as you flip through the 270 pages of the book, it looks like there are numerous exercises but this is deceiving because of the duplication.

I think this would be a decent book for someone just starting out. If you already have a few books on weight lifting, you won’t find anything new here.

A Man’s Guide to Muscle and Strength details nine six-week exercise and weight training programs that are not only designed to build muscle, but also enhance endurance, conditioning and strength. The programs include detailed instructions, schedules, notes, tips and photos.

Sections on nutrition, fat burning and metabolism, scheduling of workouts, and training principles supplement the programs and provide additional knowledge.

This is a worthwhile book for someone who wants to start a strength and conditioning program or wants to change or enhance a routine that has become stale or non-productive.

Stephen Cabral's A Man's Guide to Muscle and Strength is a large, textbook-sized volume that distills over twelve years of personal-training experience into ten motion-related principles, a chapterful of nutrition advice, nine workout routines (each in its own chapter), and a healthy dose of encouragement. Some of the facts in the early material may be a bit suspect (for example, lemon is naturally acidic, not alkaline, as stated on p. 18--although lemon juice does, in fact, have an akalizing effect on the body); but the readers are perhaps more interested in advice, not biochemical explanations; and the advice--drinking a glass of water first thing each morning, even better with a squirt of lemon juice--is certainly good.

The nine workout-routine chapters form the core of the book and are its strength. I'm the type of exerciser who appreciates visuals (it's easiest, in fact, if I see someone do what I'm instructed to do); so the inclusion of photographs of exercisers in action with every exercise is most helpful. (The monochrome photographs are a tad blurry--perhaps you could say they're "newspaper quality"--but I've possibly just been spoiled by the glossy, full-color presentations in the Delavier's training volumes, also published by Human Kinetics, where the models are on white backgrounds and thus stand out better. In this volume, the models sometimes blend in with the floor or the walls in the photographs. But, really, they get the job done; and this book certainly should not just be looked at!) Just under a third of the warm-ups and exercises can be done without apparatus; all have descriptive and memorable names (e.g., "transverse plane lunges" [p. 246], "Spidermans" ["Spidermen"?, p. 173], "unilateral bird dogs" [p. 142--truly harder than they look], "squat thrusts (burpees)" [p. 129], "cobras" [p. 148], "inchworms" [pp. 195 & 254--the only repeated exercise I noted, though I likely missed other couples, given that I counted over 180 exercises; note, too, that several are variations on a theme]). The book doesn't have an index, but such would be of use primarily for the prefatory matter, I presume: once you've read the opening matter and internalized an exercise, the book is really needed only for the routine and workout suggestions. (And these you could jot on a note card so you don't have to carry the book to the gym.)

I don't have a large enough library of related books to be able to compare this one with other similar efforts. I do like, though, that the workouts are tailored to specific needs and goals (emphasizing, for example, strength and power, core power, the upper body, and more); that the exercises are memorably named--and illustrated; and that "training tips" and "exercise notes" are sprinkled throughout the text, again contributing to the textbook feel. My LibraryThing Early Reviewers copy arrived at the beginning of the year, too, perfect for trying it out while attempting to stick to the perennial New Year's resolution. . . .

Stephen Cabral wrote an insightful book in A Man's Guide to Muscle and Strength. This book is filled with pictures and tables. Cabral breaks down each exercise and each chapter by difficulty so that you don't need to be an Arnold Swarzenegger wannabe in order to workout and gain muscle.

Stephen Cabral has put together a definitive guide to fitness from diet to exercise. The fact that each week is broken out into only three workouts of 30-45 minutes is perfect for anyone that is not a gym rat and wants a quick effective workout. Each training section is just six weeks of highly functional and ever-changing and this will keep the workouts from becoming stale and boring. I did the first workout this morning and look forward to the rest of the year.