Men's Health Power Training: Build Bigger, Stronger Muscles Through Performance-Based Conditioning

There are three books in my workout library which I consider indispensable: Beyond Bodybuilding by Pavel Tsatsouline, Ultimate Flexibility by Sang H. Kim, and this book, Men's Health Power Training by Coach Dos. This book is outstanding in every way: explanations of power movements and why you should do them, illustrations, and examples of workouts for Hypertrophy, strength, and general fitness, as well as workouts you can create on your own. I've been using the principals in this book for 4 months now and have seen remarkable gains in strenth, size, and fat loss. I can't recommend this book highly enough!

Here is a book that destroys the illusions surrounding weight lifting and strength training. Many of us sit in the gym wasting massive amounts of time on isolation exercises and judging our strength by bench press alone. This book focuses on total body fitness, compound exercises, balance from front to back, top to bottom. It emphasizes developing a powerful core and pure athleticism. I have placed my faith in this book and followed its prescribed workout since I received the book. The result is that I feel stronger, faster, bigger, and healthier. I feel like an athlete. I have also found that following the book's suggested rest times between sets serves two purposes for these workouts: First, it allows the workout to be completed in far less time than I was previously spending in the gym, yet I am accomplishing twice as much. Second, I have found this mode of fast-paced lifting to be as effective as most cardio sessions. My main goal has been reducing my body fat percentage in a healthy manner. So once I finally adapted to the challenge of the workout's pace, I did as Coach Dos suggested and added 15 minutes of interval cardio to the tail end of as many sessions as possible. This has proved extremely effective in blasting away abdominal fat. Of course a proper diet is necessary to optimize fitness improvements. And although this book contains a chapter on basic nutritional guidelines, which are extremely helpful, I must recommend looking at the Abs Diet books for more detailed nutrition plans. These books are also Men's Health sponsored and very helpful. There are plenty of glowing reviews here that are very helpful for this book, but I truly feel that the importance of the work being done by Coach Dos outlined here in his book is extremely valuable to men AND women everywhere. Here is a plan for life-changing self-improvement, and it will work. Read carefully, work hard, and enjoy.

i really enjoy this book. in particular, the selection and variety of exercises is great. although beginners are encouraged to try, i would say it's best-suited toward people already in above-average shape or people at least 1-2 months into a regular workout program. many of the exercises suggested require a lot of proper technical form, balance, and maximal power, all of which could lead to serious injury without careful supervision or at least a foundational level of fitness. also many of the exercises require comfortable usage of your own body weight. this kind of training requires commitment; done properly, it is not easy. the philosophy of the author's training is practical & efficient. most books neglect these areas and just offer workout recipes, which to me seems like a by-product of what the author despises: isolation. my criticisms are small ( & not necessarily within the author's control) - the described total-body, hypertrophy, and strength phases do not seem all that different from each other. (maybe that's just how it is) - i'd prefer if the more technical exercises were explained & shown in greater detail - having access to olympic-style lifting equipment can be difficult. it's pretty hard to find gyms that carry the type of barbells & weights you can safely drop on the floor from an elevated height. (you can use regular barbells, just be more careful & quiet) - i don't really like the nutrition section. it offers basic advice that neither targets losing body fat or adding muscle; just does a little of each. diet & rest are just as important as a workout plan in getting real results. since this is men's health, "the abs diet" is a much better guide to proper eating. this book is not directed towards losing body fat, though that may happen coincidentally. it's for building practical & balanced strength, muscle, and coordination. ultimately, this kind of training will help keep you safe and functionally strong. i wish there were more books like this and i think it's sad more people don't train like this. P.S. make sure you use really stable cross-training or tennis shoes with this workout. do not use running shoes.

I got this book from the library first but now it's on my Christmas list. This book is well worth the price! I'm sick of getting workout books that just show you a lot of the same old exercises and don't really give you a program or instruction on how to use the workouts. I believe that is why so many people are gravitating toward workout programs like crossfit, because they actually tell you what to do. I believe the problem with crossfit is that you are constantly working out but there is really no gauge on how much progress you are making or no real goals to accomplish. This book is a very structured book with lots of really creative and difficult exercises, some of which I've never seen before. You may have to work your way up to some of the most difficult exercises. My first experience going through the full body workout 3 days per week I came closer to puking than I ever had before! It took me about 30mins to calm down after that workout enough to keep my food down. It's a well rounded program that the author has designed so you can tailor it to your own schedule very easily (which is about the only easy thing about this workout). Another thing I really like about this program is the emphasis on unilateral workouts. I tore my ACL a year ago, and had surgery about 10 months ago, and have had a hard time working out and not favoring my good leg. All the unilateral workouts really keep my body balanced and has really been good for my surgical knee as it recovers. I can't talk about long term results yet because the book just came out but so far I've been really impressed.

I'm 54 years old and have been lifting since I was 18. I've read countless weightlifting (mainly bodybuilding) books starting with Arnold's stuff in the 70's. I'm a physician. I've been exposed to very little of the material here, but as I understand it, much of it is used currently for athletic training such as football. This thing is packed with great material and I've been working at mastering some of the ideas for several months. The olympic lifts and compound (multiple sets together) exercises are just fantastic. I'm no longer interested in bodybuilding but being strong and healthy and not wasting a lot of time, and this program seems to have it all. Buy this book, I think it will change your life. Be careful with the weight you use, very careful; unless you are well conditioned already you can easily hurt yourself. I've never written one of these reviews before but this time I'm compelled.