The Men's Health Big Book of Exercises: Four Weeks to a Leaner, Stronger, More Muscular You!

I love this book - it's a gem in my opinion; for anyone who is already working out or is looking to get fit or add variety in their workouts, this is an excellent book; it is very complete with dozens of different variations on standard exercises that will build your strength and health. This book explains each main exercise and its variations thoroughly with beautiful color photographs to help illustrate and explain.One of the highlights of this book for me was how it was organized and laid out; as described, it is partitioned into different sections of the body you are working out (e.g., back, chest, abs, etc.) which I really like. It also has a nice (albeit short, unfortunately)section in the back on basic nutrition/diet, as well as some very handy charts on different workout routines that you can do: e.g. short workouts for a crowded gym, routines to lose weight, to build a beach body (or, to gain muscle mass for fairly lean guys. Yeah, that's me; i'm working on adding muscle mass :)) etc.For the "intermediate or advanced athlete," or the people that have worked out for some time already, some of the exercises may seem basic or common sense, but there should be plenty of variety in each section and some challenging variations to the main workouts you already do and that are listed in the book. This is a great book to go through and add workouts to your already existing routine, if you'd like.***In Summation: Excellent Book! 5/5: Pros: Detailed explanations, plenty of exercises and variations, color photos, basic nutrition info, workout plans/charts.Cons: Not much at all; my only wish is that the nutrition info would be a little more detailed and tailored to any specific workout plan included in the book.***Well worth the price; i would consider it an essential workout book, especially for those new to working out, trying to get back in shape, or looking to vary up their exercise routines? Worried it won't be challenging enough? Don't be: like with any aspect of work, what you give is what you get, to a large extent. You can always try harder variations, add more weight/resistance, or do more reps.

Impressed from initial time spent with book. Wealth of exercise examples, nice plans and extra information. Do not buy this book if you are looking for really strong diet advice. Has some straight forward tips but diet plan is not a strong point of the book. Which is fine by me, I just wanted the wealth of exercises and variations, and the book has that covered in spades!

This is the best exercise book ever, I have about 8 different ones and this one is far superior to all the others. I ended buying another one, one for inside and one for my garage gym. The book has nice glossy pages and color photos with several variants of each exercise. Someone complained about most of the exercises involved special equipment, a lot do. But you can improvise, you just have to be open minded and creative and want it bad enough to put a little effort in it. I bought two 3 1/2" pulleys and made a Lat Pulldown Station in my garage. Good luck in your weight loss exercise journey!

I have been working out for many years and have a decent collection of workout and fitness books. There are basically 3 categories of these books out there: Major Health Marketing Companies owned by Bodybuilders and Fitness Experts(Examples are Men's Health, Muscle & Fitness, any Weider Publication), second is Pro Bodybuilders and Athletes that have written there own advice books(Examples are Michael Matthews and Frederic Delavier, both which are admirable), third is Marketing materials produced by Endorsers(Examples are P90X, Hard Body Plans, and Diet Schemes). All Three have their benefits and downsides, but basically what I noticed is that some books are geared towards different types of people(I own Muscle and Fitness 101 Workouts which is geared towards guys wanting to Bodybuild, I own this book which is geared toward anyone wanting to loose weight, get in shape, and stay tone and has little or no interest in bodybuilding, and I own many Michael Matthews books which are geared towards giving direction to anyone who has been following bad advise for many years and can be used by any fitness minded person). I am a person who is very fit, but not interested in becoming a bodybuilder but more someone looking to keep things interesting and always out for new tips and new exercises to keep my gym routine enjoyable. I enjoyed this book very much...It gave me a reintroduction to many common and uncommon exercises which is always good, gave me good diet and general fitness advise, but I found the actual articles in the beginning and the end of the book to be geared more towards someone who is new or a beginner and needs common direction. So I found the articles to be misguiding for my fitness level and information I have heard over and over again. The number of illustrated exercises(full color pictures and in order by body part) made buying the book a very good investment. I also really like the fact that the models used in the book are not massively huge but just thin, fit, tone men which made reading it less intimidating. This Men's Health publication doesn't push any marketing agenda except a few references about where to buy certain equipment. I did, however, find that every fact they have in the book is refereced to some "University of so-and-so said that.... ", and I found that annoying. I would rather read straight facts although i guess it is nice to see where the facts where generated from. Overall anyone would benefit from having this book except advanced bodybuilders...If thats you I would consider the Muscle & Fitness Collection of Publications. This is a very good book for beginners looking for advise and exercise references especially those who want to loose weight and get in shape. I find the advise to be for men and women and everything is organized very well. I as an advaced lifter who desires to stay lean, fit, and thin found it a helpful addition to my library.