The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding: The Bible of Bodybuilding, Fully Updated and Revised

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For advanced lifters, increasing your weekly training volume (the number of hard sets you do for a muscle group) is sometimes all the stimulus your muscles need to start growing again. But while the book is full of all the information you could want on fitness, there are many parts that are specific to bodybuilders, which I am not, but still found interesting to read. I find this book to be very interesting and helpful for any athlete involved in strength training, regardless as to whether you are interested in competitive bodybuilding or not. There are a ton of bodybuilding books out there to read, but let's face it, reading some of them would be a waste of time. Growing up, my dad was a powerlifter (like a body builder but focused on raw lifting power as opposed to sculpting the body into a perfectly symmetric form) so I pulled down his copy of Arnold's tome and poured over it.

Although the 528-page book was released back in the late 80s, you’ll still find that most of its principles remain relevant today. However, one can't help but think that maybe Arnold was a little out of touch with the reality of training for the average guy.Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe provides detailed instruction on every aspect of the basics of barbell exercises.

Now, fifteen fantastic years after that first publication, Arnold is ready to teach and motivate a new generation of athletes with this fully updated and revised "New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Far better results are to be had with up to date programs such as Starting Strength, Tactical Barbell, and Madcow. You can expect identical results in terms of lower body gains, as both programs involve training the legs twice a week, on separate days to the upper body. Recovery is about more than allowing enough time between training sessions for the same muscle group. the competing side of the book is of no use to him but he says if he had had this in his youth he might have gone into it.However, training also has what’s known as a systemic effect, which refers to the impact a given workout has on your entire body. On a typical upper body day, for example, you’ll need to train your chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps. Pretty much all bodybuilders in the modern history of the sport have followed Joe’s principle at one point or another, including some of the greats like Lee Haney, Franco Columbo, and Lou Ferrigno.