Bret ContrerasBesprekingen

During a brief flirtation with a martial arts club, I learned just how effective old-fashioned bodyweight exercises can be. Now I'm looking for more exercises to add to my routine, and this book is a great resource. It's helping in two ways: by suggesting exercises for areas I want to work on, and by showing me what some exercises I already know really hit. I have several of the publisher's illustrated anatomy for fitness and sports, and I always find them useful and insightful.

Extremely good overview of exercises that will help you build strength using just or primarily the weight of your own body. Contreras points out exactly what muscles you will work primarily and secondarily with each exercise, along with very well done illustrations of what and where those muscles are. He also provides thorough and detailed guidance on how to set up a variety of strength training programs, including providing samples of four different types of programs with sample weekly sets of workouts.

Most important, he points out, you can do a lot with just bodyweight training. Most gymnasts use no more than their bodyweight in getting ready for competition, and they are strong and look good.

This book is an excellent book for those who wish to use their own body weight in strength training. It contains tips on creating a program. The book is divided by the muscle group. This book is most appropriate for those who are beginners and at an intermediate level who wish to add some variety to their routine. I would also say that it would be helpful for physical trainers. The book includes excellent illustrations of the exercise to be performed and the muscles that are worked.

This, and the series of books like it, are awesome. I don't know how much body builders need to know about anatomy, but for the curious, like me, understanding what muscles are being used, and how, is quite interesting. The other purpose of the book, training techniques using bodyweight strength are also quite useful. There are several useful tables in the back, that cover routines, for examples. One of the tables includes exercises and types of movements, but I don't really see me using that. Overall, it is a good reference to exercises and muscle function, and can be scanned pretty quickly for an understanding about an effective training program.
It would have been nice to see how bodyweight training could be integrated with other bodybuilding activities.

I am always on the lookout for a good book of basic exercises that don't need a lot of equipment since I travel a lot for my job. This book of body exercises fits the bill perfectly.

The exercises in this book are well organized by muscle group and each exercise is described in detail with ideas on how to ramp it up. Also, each exercise has a transparent human performing the exercise showing exactly what muscles should be worked. A very helpful addition that confirms if they are being done correctly. At the end of the book is chart showing all the exercises and which muscle groups are being worked with few basic workouts to accomplish your goals. There are no strict workouts here, but this book provides you the basic structure of a workout and plenty of exercises to design your own.

Body weight exercises are not going to add bulk, but if you are looking to stay in shape this book is not a bad start.½

A well organized and well illustrated training book that allows the user to get a strength workout using just the users bodyweight and "equipment" that can found in any typical home or hotel room. Doesn't really leave me much excuse for not working out when I'm stuck at home or on the road, and would work in a pinch but wouldn't use this long term.

This is a valuable book for anyone looking to increase their strength and definition without spending hours in the gym. Bret Contreras explains the best exercises that don't require any equipment yet have been proven to strengthen and shape all the major muscles. The book includes many illustrations that show exactly which muscles are used during the different exercises. This is especially helpful when you have some weak areas that you would like to target. Overall, it's a very practical book with lots of great tips.

I have had the pleasure of reviewing several fitness related books by Human Kinetics and I find them all to be valuable sources of fitness and health information. This book Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy is no exception. One of the newer fitness trends is strength training using your own bodyweight. You can see this in the "boot camp' fitness training. The great thing is you can do these exercises any where and not need a gym or expensive weight equipment. This book as always printed on high quality glossy stock paper gives a huge selection of exercises and explanation and tips for each exercise. I like the fact that they use illustrations as opposed to fitness models. The illustrations are highly detailed and show you exactly which muscle groups are used for each exercise. Each muscle group is labeled as well. Also a great section on putting a fitness program together. This is a wonderful addition to any fitness library. Check out other titles from Human Kinetics. They are all well worth reading.

This book has a nice mix of exercises, laid out in sections according to the body parts they work. It's a bit sexist though, it's as if it was written for men and then references to women's bodies were adding in as an afterthought (seriously, we don't need to work our pecs because they can't be seen as well?). Most of the exercises also only have one diagram, where often it would be useful to see both the starting and the ending points of the motion. The exercise order is often a bit off, in terms of difficulty, and there are some progressions that could have been added. There's a section at the back where sample workouts are presented, but they're pretty simplistic and don't quite seem to match to the exercise categories a page before (it gives specific exercises instead of categories). It's a decent enough resource to add to an exercise library, but I wouldn't make it the only book I used. The sexism seems a byproduct of a looks based training style, he seems to be trying to convince men to not just train the "beach muscles", but flounders at making statements directed to women. A full scale edit making that genderless would have been useful, the diagrams at least show male and female bodies in a fairly even mix.½

This is truly a book for anyone who wants to improve strength, balance, coordination and flexibility in privacy or without access to a gym full of gear. Unlike most books like these (Convict Conditioning), this one gives you a series of exercises, a wide variety, rather than just a few with progressions to improve in them. For example, this is how most bodyweight exercise books would approach the push-up, from easiest to most difficult -

1. wall pushup
2. table
3. knee
4. standard
5. offset
6. one-armed
7. the Stallone (one-armed with clap)

Instead Contreras gives you 12 different styles of pushups that you can work into your routine as needed or when equipment isn’t available. This approach is good for people who want variety rather than the attainment of a narrow goal.

Illustrations are spectacular - muscles involved and overall details of musculoskeletal structures are shown with figures engaged in every exercise. They are labeled with common and Latin names. He also includes female athletes as well as male so that it presents less testosterone-y and in-your-face.

For each exercise, the author starts with a section showing proper technique, then outlines the muscles involved (again with those great illustrations), then a notes section including tips and pointers for perfecting the movement. Helpfully, Contreras indicates levels of difficulty for each exercise with a vivid graphic for easy identification.

Finally at the end, he supplies sample program routines for overall fitness and effective workouts without equipment. A marked departure which results in a great improvement over most bodyweight exercise books.

This is not the be-all, end-all of fitness training but it is a useful entry-level book, probably more valuable for the text than the exercises. Contreras has a solid understanding of anatomy and explains concepts like eccentric movement and progression in a way that novices can understand, yet is accurate and technical enough to appeal to professionals like physical therapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists, etc. For those of us looking to recommend a book to our rehab clients to read and use on their own, this is a good choice. The tone is positive as well as cautionary, the advice is physiologically sound, and the color illustrations are well done - all that I've come to expect from the anatomy series.

It is refreshing that there is a focus on staying within a person's fitness level and not performing exercises too advanced by compromising body mechanics and relying on momentum. Contreras also includes a helpful ranking system (from 1 to 4) of difficulty for each exercise. However, exercises are not arranged according to this ranking, and not all muscle categories have beginner options listed. Therefore it is of limited use for a fitness novice who does not also have a therapist or trainer. Additionally, there is no index of exercises, so a reader would need to know that a mountain climber would be in the section on whole body exercises in order to locate it without flipping through the entire book. This book would serve a more advanced practitioner well, particularly one who travels frequently, as it does a very good job describing how to safely train various body parts using household furniture.

With a bit better structure and attention to all fitness levels, this would be a must-have for any strength and conditioning practitioner.

The concept of improving your muscles without weights or machines is appealing. It removes major excuses for not exercising and allows you to workout anywhere, at your convenience.

However, I had the impression that "Bodyweight Strength Training" would require no equipment. That isn't exactly the case. Many exercises use furniture and house structural items to replace gym equipment. Think of hanging off the rafters as a monkey.

Various exercises use a vertical pole, chairs, large boxes or a weight bench, open rafters, a sturdy door or a chin-up bar, a step stool and a table. Sometimes you might be safer and better off using some gym equipment rather than furniture for exercising. Chairs can move while you are doing your scapular shrugs. You certainly don't want to misjudge the sturdiness of your door.

Exercises are grouped by body parts and designated with degree of difficulty, from one to four. This allows you to design a personalized exercise program or work on specific muscle groups.

The anatomical illustrations and wonderful. They depict the function of each exercise and clarify the movements. I own both Women's Strength Training Anatomy and Strength Training Anatomy, 3rd Edition(for men) by Frédéric Delavier, which also show exercises illustrated with people without skin. The Delavier books have better illustrations with much greater detail, but employ bands, free weights and machines in the exercises. I find the anatomical diagrams in all of these books extremely helpful when selecting and performing exercises.

I would like to see more explanation and guidance in how to do the exercises correctly, both for effectiveness and to avoid injury. There are many admonitions to "do this" or "don't do that, " omitting the "why" of the directive. For example, in performing the"Single-Leg Box Squat" you are told, "Don't let your knees cave in or out," but the reason for this instruction is missing. Proper form is critical in improving and protecting the body, and many of us need explicit and more detailed instruction.

The last chapter of "Bodyweight Strength Training" has useful advice in how to design a training program to meet your goals, including a chart of all the exercises and sample routines. I'm confident that this book can guide you to achieve your ideal body; it's just a matter of doing it . . .

Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy is a bok for weight training novices. The text isn't too complicated, and it is accompanied by anatomically- correct diagrams. Each chapter covers a different body part/muscle group.½

This is a very helpful book for anyone interested in learning different bodyweight strength training exercises as well as the anatomical basis for them. The book is organized by area of the body. Each exercise is detailed with a clear illustration, an explanation of how to do it along with common pitfalls, and an outline of the primary and secondary muscles involved.