Women's Strength Training Anatomy

I am a personal trainer at a local gym. Whenever I take my copy of this in, everyone wants to look at it and not give it back. So many of them have bought it, I think the publisher should give me a cut. Accurate, informative, and readable. You have to get the regular Strength Training Anatomy book to get enough upper body information. I recommend both. It would have been nice for this one to be able to stand alone, though.

Definitely not a book for exercise "dummies" or the overly dependent who need an exact program spelled out. This book has a different purpose and it will please those looking to really understand how the body should be working and what muscles are affected in each exercise. I haven't found this done well in any other book--but it is something the good trainers and pros know. The illustrations show exactly what muscles each exercise targets, beautifully illustrated and unmistakeably. Those that are not active are also clear, which I found helpful to avoid "recruitment." As for those who want the "other half of the book," gee, the cover tells you that it's about exercises for the abs, butt and legs. I don't see how it could be much clearer or why anyone who read the title should be complaining that there are no exercises for the pecs or triceps here! The best part about this book is that it discusses the key points and variations for each exercise.... how changing stance or angle or using dumbells instead of a bar, for instance, would give a different result. Most books do not even give all the general tips they should, let alone this kind of exact fine-tuning. I have a great personal trainer, and that's how I discovered that a small thing such as how you grasp a bar can make a huge difference in results and which muscles get the most work. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is serious about learning more about how to train their body. Shortfalls--these are not really problems, because they are not in the intended scope of the book. However, if you do need an exercise routine, you will have to get it elsewhere. But there are zillions of books and websites with that info. Second, safety is not fully covered since the weights to use are not given and mistakes to avoid are not always mentioned. But the illustrations are so clear that if you have some experience, you will appreciate what you find here. As for those who giggled or found some illustrations "sexual," huh? I didn't see it myself. Just a body doing exercise. But as the checkoff box below says, I am over the age of 13.

This book is a great help for training trouble spots. It covers training the lower body (back, abs, legs and butt). It gives many exercises for each body area (27 butt, 37 legs, 34 abs and 6 for back) each with a perfectly drawn illustration showing the muscles effected by the exercise and clear explanation on how to correctly perform the exercise. Most of the exercises can be done with minimal equiptment (free weights and bands) at home, only a few cover gym machines. This book does not give routines or diet plans. After 10 years of gym training I am now training at home. This no nonsense book has been an invaluable source of exercises and information for training (especially trouble spots) without the use of gym equiptment. Highly recommended!

I'm a personal trainer and found this book to be a great learning aid for my personal trainer national certification exam. The pictures are just great. They are transparent in the way they show you the muscles. For example, when doing a lat pull, it shows you the muscles that are being contracted. Also, the pictures are quite detailed and very descriptive. In this way, not only it helped me to be a good personal trainer but it was a great reference for my national certification exam. I also used the following which cut my study time in half for my national certification fitness exam: Key Facts for Anatomy and Physiology by Patrick LeonardiThis book made anatomy and physiology much easier to understand and helped me to get passing grades. I give both books 10 stars