Books and Magazines

I guess there's no single reference that I would recommend as containing all of the information that someone might need. Some references that you might find useful are

Useful References

Book	Author	Publisher/Year	Notes
Winning Bodybuilding	Franco Columbu and George Fels	Contemporary Books, Incorporated 1977	This is the book that I started with. It is short (I believe less than 100 pages) and to the point and might be good for a beginner. It's also out-of-print.
Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding	Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bill Dobbins	Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1985	This book describes a gajillion exercises and chronicles interesting bodybuilding history. It is a good reference, particularly if you're having trouble finding a large enough variety of exercises, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend the routines it outlines. This is probably the thickest book on the fitness shelves at any bookstore and you shouldn't have any trouble finding it.
Optimum Sports Nutrition	Michael Colgan	Advanced Research Press 1993	As the title indicates, this is a guide to nutrition. It's rather unorthodox in various ways but the author knows what he's talking about. Also, it's written in Dr. Colgan's outrageous humorous style and includes fun cartoons that Dr. Colgan has drawn himself. Dr. Colgan founded the Colgan Institute, which is a sports nutrition and longevity consulting firm. All of his books are available through your favorite online book seller. I found my copy of Optimum Sports Nutrition at GNC. You might also try the library if you'd like to look before you buy.
The Poliquin Principles	Charles Poliquin	Mile High Publishing 1997	This is a very good training guide that bases its advice on a wealth of research and practical experience. The book is oriented toward bodybuilders and lays out principles for solid strength and size increasing routines. It also provides sample routines for beginning, intermediate, and advanced trainees. The book debunks many long-standing training myths and derides many bodybuilding and weight training icons for promoting them. It is fairly short (151 pages) with lots of pictures, diagrams, and tables. Although Poliquin has an ego the size of Texas, I found the book to be amusing, entertaining, and very useful. It's most likely to appeal to those who've been around weight training a while and might leave beginners scratching their heads. However, it's never too early to begin using proper techniques. The book is only available directly from the publisher. See Poliquin's web site for more information. Sorry if I sound like an advertizement. I don't benefit in any way from promoting this book. I searched book stores for this book for months hoping to take a look at it before buying it. I just thought I might save others who might be interested the trouble that I went through.
Spontaneous Healing	Andrew Weil, M.D.	Ballantine Books 1996	I recommend any of Dr. Weil's books for nutritional information and perspective. His books concern general health and don't have anything specific to do with weight training.
Eating Well for Optimum Health	Andrew Weil, M.D.	Alfred A. Knopf 2000	This is an excellent book on nutrition. It discusses the fundamentals of human nutrition, various popular dietary philosophies, and what research really shows. Dr. Weil presents detailed conclusions regarding the optimum diet, including menus and recipes. His arguments are compelling and veyr clearly articulated.

Most bodybuilding books are either too basic or describe tactics that only the chemically-enhanced can survive. Most of them proclaim the same basic information with the most recent bodybuilding celebrity's face attached.

It's important to get some guidance when beginning from a personal trainer, an instructor at a health club, or from a good book. One thing to keep in mind is that there is a lot of disagreement about what is THE best way to train. As it happens, there is no one best way to train because everyone is physiologically and biochemically unique and no routine works the same for everyone. So, everyone needs to discover is what works best for them. Most anything will give a beginner results. It's later, after your body has begun adapting to the training that you need to begin more specifically tayloring your workout.

One often referred to source of information about lifting is muscle magazines. Unfortunately, most of them are hype and empty claims designed to sell products. I used to recommend Muscle Media. It may still be a reasonable place for beginners to start but is no longer much use to those of us who have been around for a while. They have tried to become more of a mainstream magazine and mostly try to provide motivation. Most, if not all, of the muscle magazines are owned by supplement companies. Of course, this may not be too different from the fact that drug companies fund the publishing of medical journals.

Last modified: Sun Jul 30 14:31:00 CDT 2000