The book is straightforward and easy to read. It starts with some light background on body muscle groups and workout theory, but doesn't waste time being academic. It defines exactly what you should be doing in each week: stretches, warmups, exercises, reps, tempo, etc. Illustrations abound.

The simple, explicit direction is what makes it an attractive choice for a workout book.

Of course, I can't truly review it until I see if it works...

This is one of the first books I cut my teeth on when I started my fitness odyssey, and a decade later it has proved itself to still be very useful. I fortuitously rediscovered it among my shelves while I was slogging through a morale-sapping plateau late last year. The Advanced Program was decidedly different from my routine back then so I decided to give it a go, tweaking it a bit to accommodate some injuries I'm still recovering from. Only two and a half months in and I managed to gain 11lbs of muscle mass. I'm currently in Stage 2, and while it is not as demanding as the previous one, I'm still enjoying dem gainz. I'll give the whole six-month program a go and report back when I'm through.

Tbh I only really focused on the routine itself, checking out the details of the included exercises to take note of any idiosyncrasies the authors may have. The book was first published almost 20 years ago though, and I haven't perused the other chapters to confirm if the info is still up to date. For what it's worth, I found the parts I covered to be exceedingly useful as per achieving my goals, and for that alone it deserves five stars. But to be fair, I'll deduct one star and just reinstate it once I read the entire book, finish the program, and find it all satisfactory.

7.5/10; 4 stars.

I'm not *quite* like the guy on the cover yet, but I'm close, damnit!

Great Workout

Pretty good, exercises well described and pictures are clear. Possibly a bit outdated now.

Great Book and contains an amazing workout. i realized how great it really as i got older and more experienced with gym workout. right now after almost 3 years of absent, i returned to it and will be using the workouts again. This just shows that time has no effect on this masterpiece of muscle galore.

Very insightful as to the inner working of muscles. It was incredibly thorough and gave a more complete picture of muscle fibers, hormones, macros, and the important exercises to target each muscle group. Quite enjoyed this.

An excellent guide, with sections on anatomy, nutrition, stretching, proper form for each exercise, and pre-designed weightlifting programs.

Not impressed. Great to look at, professional pictures and outstanding presentation. But when I get a workout book I want the content to make me stronger. The information presented here is pretty generic and isn't any different from what you'd find in popular men's fitness magazines.

Great overview of the muscle groups and exercises to get you started on the journey. I like to learn the fundamentals and understand how the body works. This book is not for the professionals who have been in the fitness industry for a while but everyone will find some interesting info here. Also, I liked a detailed explanation on tempo and how to vary it in workouts.