Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding: The Complete A-Z Book on Muscle Building Hardcover – 25 Oct. 2008

As someone starting out in fitness after leading a sedentary lifestyle, I started hitting the gym 6 months ago and have seen good results, I bought this book as my gym staff are fairly useless/unfriendly and don't really do anything other than lead the odd class from time to time, so my gym is purely a place where I can use the equipment which is fine and I go every other day.This book was bought to help me better understand the process of getting in shape, along with others, its a great book and extremely informative. Its huge and covers every area I think I could ever want to know about. I'd recommend it to anyone into fitness or thinking about getting fit.

This book has absolutely everything you need to know about bodybuilding. From beginner splits and routines, nutritional advice straight through to anabolic steroids. It has lots of example workouts as you work your way through the book, split into beginner, intermediate and advanced. There is also a section which offers an insight into the workouts of some of todays superstars of the sport.It is tremendous value as you wont find anything as in depth at the same price and you can do away with buying mens fitness etc every week. The only minor criticism I would have is that: in arnie's encyclopedia, if you come across an exercise you are not familiar with, you can refer to it in the index and there is detailed pictures of what each exercise is. However, this book almost assumes that you know what each exercise is (apart from the "big 7" which is covered in great detail). Although this problem is quite easy to overcome as you can simply type the name of the exercise into google images if you are unsure.Given that arnie's book was £70 last time I checked, I strongly advise this book instead!

Whoever you are I'm sure you will pick up at least a few things from this book. The information on supplementation and nutrition is top quality. The author gives you a deeper understanding of the science behind how your body works and of how to get the best out of it. I also liked advice provided on improving exercise techniques and on how to target your weaker areas. Well worth a read (for exercisers/bodybuilders of all levels).

A good book which is very detailed, having lots of information on all aspects of training.The only problem I found is that the exercises are not indexed, so you have to thumb though all the pages to find what you are looking for and the exercises are not detailed with diagrams, which I find helps a huge amount.In all a well priced book, but you may need another book that provides a better explanation and examples of how to do them correctly.

For a seasoned Elite Weight trainer i found this book a good read. Although 792 page, and heavy book to read. Very enjoyable read. Modern and upto date training well documented.

Superb book, covering everything from work outs to diets. A must buy for anyone serious or just starting bodybuilding. A1

This is without a doubt one of the most interesting and well written books on body transformation I have ever purchased.I truly believe that you cannot beat what genuine bodybuilders do in terms of fat loss methods and obviously muscle building too but you don't have to want to be the next Arnie to read this. Even if your goal is just fat loss,get this book.

This book has plenty of images/role models for inspiration relating to new bodybuilders and details about the history of the sport. It also gives example weight training routines for beginner (4 day split) right through to advanced (6 days a week). This is only naming a few of the great features this book has because it does have many, BUT.....I was really disappointed in the lack of nutritional guidelines/help, sure it says avoid highly processed foods and stick to whole-grains, but that's common sense in my eyes? The information i really wanted was the amount of calories i need, the correct ratios of the major food groups (proteins,fats,carbs) during bulking and cutting phases, BMR calculations.So to conclude, if i had the choice of buying this book again then i'd buy something else.