Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy Paperback – September 6, 2013

I own Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy by Bret Contreras, You are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren, and Your Body is Your Barbell by BJ Gaddour. This review refers to the Kindle versions of each book. I would recommend buying either the Contreras or Gaddour book; however, I feel the Lauren book is not worth buying unless you are collecting books on the subject. I would actually recommend buying both the Contreras and Gaddour books as they complement each other well. Neither book is perfect, but together they cover the topic very thoroughly.This review covers the following elements:Exercises: Number and variety of exercises.Programming: The sample routines given in the book as well as basic templates for building your own programs.Progressions: Making a particular exercise easier or more difficult so a person of any level can benefit from the exercise as well as allowing progression in strength and ability.Educational value: How well the book teaches the reader to understand how the body works and how the exercises work each part of your body.User friendliness: How easy it is to use the Kindle book.Exercises:All three books provide a large variety of exercises, however Contreras is the best here. My problem with the Lauren book is that it is not much more than an encyclopedia of exercises and doesn't do a good job of explaining why you should be doing any particular exercise. Also, he gives many of the exercises goofy, unwieldy names that sometimes don't help you understand what the move actually is. Gaddour only provides major compound movements and skips the core and isolation exercises. On the other hand, Contreras covers exercises for the arms, core, glutes and even the neck. Gaddour and Contreras both cover metabolic training and full-body exercises. Gaddour gets extra credit for an excellent chapter devoted to burpee variations, culminating in the Rolling Pistol Squat (a backward, one-leg burpee). In my opinion, this chapter is worth the price of the book (yes, I like burpees).Programming:The Contreras book is the best in terms of programming. He gives you workout templates and suggestions for what exercises to use. The explanations of each exercise in the book will help you decide what exercises to select. He also provides sample “metabolic” (HIIT and MRT) workouts. The Gaddour and Lauren books only give you set routines to follow without much flexibility. However, the Gaddour book is better because he presents you with various styles of routines, such as for maximum fat loss, maximum strength, and so on. The Lauren book has little variety in the routines.Progressions:Gaddour is definitely the big winner here. In fact, I think this is the biggest strength of his book. He gives you eight basic types of exercises. With each exercise, he gives you five levels of difficulty. Within each level he provides three “microregressions” and three “microprogressions” that allow you to fine tune the exercise as appropriate for your skill level. Anyone who's ever engaged in strength training knows how helpful it is to progress in small increments. Contreras also gives examples of progressions and regressions, but not with the detail found in the Gaddour book. Lauren is weakest here. To be fair, he does give ideas on how to make an exercise more difficult, just not as well as the other two.Educational value:The only area where the Contreras book is lacking in educational value compared to the others is regarding nutrition. Lauren and Gaddour both cover nutrition to some extent, whereas Contreras doesn't mention it. The Gaddour and Lauren books both have chapters devoted to exercise nutrition, the former written by a PhD from Pennsylvania State University.Contreras' muscle diagrams are outstanding and they really allow the reader to understand how the body works and how the muscles are being used. He breaks it down by primary and secondary muscles worked. I was surprised to learn how many upper-body movements involve the trapezius, for example. Contreras also does a good job explaining training variables such as intensity, density, and periodization. Lauren discusses these topics to a lesser extent.User friendliness:Lauren is last is this category. The book is laid out poorly. Although the exercises are organized by body part, the Kindle book does not provide links to the separate sections, as in the Gaddour and Contreras books. Lauren has an alphabetic index at the end but, particularly with the odd names he gives the exercises, it's difficult to find exercises for specific body parts. For example, if you want to find three exercises to work your thighs, you will have to go to the non-indexed Exercises section and flip through the pages until you get to what you want. This is a major headache on a Kindle. Contreras and Gaddour both provide extensive hyperlinking to get to where you need to go in the book. Contreras provides links organized by body part and specific exercises – he does the best job here.Contreras strengths:Muscle diagramsIsolation exercises (especially glutes)Customizable routinesMost user-friendly Kindle versionContreras weaknesses:No discussion of nutritionGaddour strengths:ProgressionsBurpees chapterNutrition chapterGaddour weaknesses:No specific core exercisesNo isolation exercisesLauren strengths:Chapter on using household items to workout can be usefulLauren weaknesses:Poor Kindle formattingNo full-body or metabolic training exercisesNo discussion of body mechanicsIf I had to recommend only one of these books, Contreras would win by a nose, with Gaddour a close second. This was a tough choice as they are both excellent books, but going by the “teach a man to fish” concept I think Contreras does a better job of explaining things such that you can design your own workout programs rather than merely following what someone else has shown you. That said, I highly recommend buying both of these books as each complements the other quite well. Combined, they're nearly perfect.03-09-16 Update:I would like to add that if you already own the print edition of the book Amazon will sell you the Kindle version for only $2.99.

The media could not be loaded. Preface:Goes over the inspiration behind writing the book and a brief layout of the book, with exercise difficulty ratings.Acknowledgments:Chapter 1: This section goes over the difference between pulling exercises and pushing exercises as well as more on the inspiration behind the book. This includes a section on Safety.Chapter 2: Goes over arms, it illustrates the muscles in the arms as well as includes a written section the muscles and what each one is used for. This section includes 5 main exercises and 4 variations.Chapter 3:Neck: has 3 exercises, 2 main and 1 variation. There are 5 shoulder exercises and 1 variation.Chapter 4:Chest, include 8main exercises and 9 variationsChapter 5:Core. includes 16 main exercises and 17 variationsChapter 6: Back 7 main exercises and 8 variationsChapter 7:Thighs 18 main exercises and 24 variationsChapter 8: Glutes, 6 main exercises with 8 variationsChapter 9:Calfs 3 main exercise with 2 variationsChapter 10: Goes over Metabolic training, HIIT, Metabolic Resistance Training and Whole-Body Exercises.10 main exercises are given with 2 variations.Chapter 11: Is all about your training regimen. It goes over, using personal feedback on your program as well as body awareness. How to have a healthy balance between muscles worked for a good regimen. It includes a table with the exercise page number and what kind of exercise it is labelled as, so you can make sure you are getting a balanced workout. Then the program goes into training goals. Next comes definitions of the workout world. Split, Frequency, Volume, Intensity, Intensiveness, Density, Tempo and periodization. At the end there are sample routines and a section on training for fat loss.About the authorEach chapter includes written section on how to execute the movement. Muscles involved. Exercise notes. Which help you perform the exercise with excellent posture and variations.The beginning section in each chapter has a written section explaining what particular muscles help make up the body part, the functions the muscles serve, how they are used in everyday life (How they benefit us) and how they work in tandem with nearby muscles. Which is great because if you are not using your muscles correctly you can over exert another area resulting in injury. This book lets you know which ones should be used and allows you to strengthen them and prevent overuse.Hands down this is one of my favorite books on my Calisthenics journey. Everything was well explained and concise. The only thing I had been focused on was knee's. I think too many books leave this vital component of body building out and it is very important to have healthy knees. Other than that no complaint. The illustrations are well done, I can clearly see how the exercise is to be performed. I understand the muscles utilized and I have variations to progress too.You get a section on planning your workout that focuses on training goals, sample workout regimens, and overall how to create a workout. This book is definitely a must have book for those new to calisthenics of body weight training.