A "must have" for all bodybuilders around the world!
I am running a succesfull gym since 2001. Since 2001 I've bought 30-40 books for bodybuilding and sports or dieting.
It's the best book I found and very helpfull for everyone.
Excellent knowledge, very good practical advises on workout training day.
Top workout programms. There is nothing missing on this book. Dieting and nutrition also!
Thanks a lot to the writter of this book, it's a tough durable tool for any proffesional on fitness industry.
5 star is the correct rating for this!!!
Should be a part of every bodybuilders library.
Although dated this book contains good information and guidelines to advance your training. Every new bodybuilder should study this book!
Informative and Enjoyable Compilation of Ironman Articles
I've been reading this Ultimate Bodybuilding Encylopedia for the last few weeks and I find it very useful and motivating.
This is very different than Arnold's encylopedia, not better or worse just different. If you want a systematic and comprehensive guide to bodybuilding exercises and their performance then Arnold's is what I would recommend. Note that (in my opinion), many of the routines are geared more for someone w/ performance enhancing drugs and would severly overtrain most natural bodybuilders. Still, Arnold's book is incredibly comprehensive and has been updated since the original release.
The Ironman encyclopedia is more of a collection of articles from Ironman issues over the years. The great thing about that is you get a variety of points of view and approaches which is excellent.
The price of the book is VERY inexpensive compared to what one would have to pay if you were to buy the same volume of valuable information in magazines.
Personally I'm not a big fan of the overall direction bodybuilding has gone with the extreme juice monsters, but this book has a mix of material that can cater to a natural bodybuilder as well as those into the more extreme aspects of the sport. In addition to the many excellent articles, there are photographs which contain bodybuilders from both "schools" of bodybuilding which is not something you find very often.
I've recently purchased the Ironman Natural Bodybuilding Book which is also excellent for those interested in focusing specifically on a drug free approach (though certainly some of the extreme supplementation used by "natural" bodybuilders almost approaches a middle ground between completely natural and pharmaceuticals).
For me the most important thing has been learning the difference between how to approach training from a natural point of view. I train for health and appearance, but not even remotely with the idea of competition, and it's been great to learn so much about how to workout hard without overtraining, especially for someone drug free like myself.
A lot of attention is paid to the fact that natural bodybuilders/weight trainers really have to learn how NOT to overtrain, something I most definitely did many years ago. I worked out way too much and really hit a wall.
Anyway, the different articles contained in this book has a plethora of interesting information that I think most people interested in pumping iron will find useful and enjoyable to read.
Another thing I really appreciate in the book is the honest discussion of the various drugs being used by non-natural bodybuilders. I especially liked the fact that Ironman had the guts to have interview with the anonymous IFBB Olympia competitor who frankly discusses the insane drug combinations he uses to stay competitive and the dangerous health issues he faces from that use. It's such an over the top interview that it actually had me going "Is this for real?", but most certainly it is. I've talked with several athletes who have used performance enhancing drugs and they suffered greatly from the side effects so this interview rang true to me.
It still amazes me that the IFBB hasn't tried to clean up and legitimize this sport into a sport that people can take seriously. Instead, they've taken a great sport and turned it into a freak show. They've created an environment that is horrific for the athletes, men and woman who should exemplify health and instead exemplify drugs. This Ironman book, while still featuring many "juiced up" bodybuilders, at least doesn't shy away from the truth about these drugs where many other publications have a "don't ask don't tell" approach.
Highly recommended!
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