Men's Health Push, Pull, Swing: The Fat-Torching, Muscle-Building Dumbbell, Kettlebell & Sandbag Program

While it does include hundreds of exercises using dumbbells, kettlebells, or sandbags, that is not what makes this book different. The value of the book comes in the discussion of the philosophy of resistance training, and how to use simple tools to get there. Similarly, there are many workouts listed in the book, but the value comes from the philosophy on how to build a workout. Specifically, the push, pull, swing of the title.After selecting a workout (each exercise is categorized, and complex movements can have multiple categories), each exercised is explained in detail, with a setup, the actual exercise, two pictures, some key points to doing the exercise the right way, and some variations.What I learned from here is the idea that there were five general areas to build strength, upper body push and pull, lower body push and pull, and rotational (swing). So a workout should be built to hit all five of these (as opposed to focusing on upper and lower body push workouts that dominate culture. In addition, the idea that a workout should begin on heavy weights, low reps, then move on to lighter weights and higher reps for cardio.This ontology of how to classify an exercise how to create a full body workout is what makes this different than workout books that are a collection of different exercises and workouts that are a random set of exercise or that isolate muscles. And that is what someone who is building strength for life or for fitness as opposed to looks should be concerned.

Review - Push Pull Swing by Myatt Murphy"Push, Pull, Swing" is an excellent guide for beginning lifters of dumbbells, kettlebells and sandbags. We get an excellent philosophy of working all three of the planes if our bodies (sagittal, frontal and transverse) with good descriptions of each and examples of the exercises included in each. This is followed by a simple but excellent description of each of the three tools mentioned above including how to select your beginning weights and purchase guidelines for each. Then we get a brief practical anatomical discussion of the important muscles, divided into pushing, pulling, swinging and combination muscles. There is a good basic discussion of nutrition. Basic terms are defined in easy to understand language.Part 2 is the exercises themselves. These are grouped by DumbBell, KettleBell and sandbag. The exercises are well described with easy to follow instructions and hints on performance. The pictures are good and show the exercises well. The quantity of exercises is plentiful and the selection is good.Part three is the routines. The first chapter is how to build your own routines based on the exercises and the three planes of movement. Then are several chapters on sample routines well laid out and easily followed.The book is well and clearly written. The pictures are good, including some motivational pictures highlighting each chapter. The audience is obviously beginners, although there are things to be learned by intermediate and advanced lifters.I highly recommend this book to men beginning to lift dumbbells, kettlebells, and/or sandbags.

As a long-time professional fitness writer and instructor I avidly read Myatt Murphy's work in Men's Health Magazine and other articles eager to absorb his knowledge; he knows his field and has the credentials and writing talent to prove it. Taking the science and research of the fitness industry and interpreting it for easy consumer understanding isn't easy, but Murphy makes it so. I found Push, Pull, Swing to be a no-nonsense, practical approach to training just as he promised--coaching people away from machines and to the basics of free weight lifting--or should I say pushing, pulling and swinging! The book gave me many "Aha!" moments as I recalled exercises or tips that I will continue to share with my clients and I now feel like I have a new encyclopedia of facts and photos to use as references. I enjoyed the periodic tips and Did You Know? items he added and I wish there had been more of them as they provided key insights and facts.If you want a good workout plan, the back of the book is filled with customized, easy to follow charts. Nice work--and good workouts--"old school" is the way to go!

This is a simply fabulous resource. I've read (studied even) many exercise guides and nutrition books in the past few years, attempting to up my game, improve my nutrition and refine my diet, and learn the science behind the workouts I'm doing -- or should be doing. This book stands high above the rest, as a total guide to fitness encompassing fat loss, nutrition for muscle creation, exercise physiology, precise movements (all well described and illustrated with photos), and a variety of suggested workouts so that you can follow pre-set routines OR mix them up to suit your own program. The writing is clear, literate, and highly readable with no fluff or annoying idiosyncrasies such as you find in other books on exercise. This book is marketed to men but ANYONE wanting a strong and lean body could benefit from reading it: I'm a woman and I recommend it to both sexes -- whether you're a beginner or a longtime exerciser like me. If I could have only one fitness book, this would be it!

I have several of the Men's Health workout and exercise books. They are always well written and full of excellent photographs and descriptions of the exercises. This book is no exception. I bought this book mainly for the sandbag routines, which are excellent and difficult. After having the book for about three months I really started looking at the kettle bell routines thinking I wanted to give them a shot as well. Bought a couple of bells and jumped in using one of the starter workouts in this book. Great place to start for the newbie. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to try the sandbag or kettle bell workouts without spending a great deal of money. The workouts are tough, easily modified to fit your needs and a good place to start for the beginner.

Appeared as brand new. This will work as stand alone exercise routines but also for adding exercises to your normal routines

More books like this -excellent workout routines from experts, depending on your goals-the training programs are effective and well thought

Full of workouts and suggestions on how to combine the three different pattern of movement (push pull hip hinge) for a more balanced training. Very complete and detailed, impressive job from the author!

Really worth to buy. These workouts really helping me to keep fit. If you are in busy schedule all along and you don't have enough time to workout, you can buy this guide to get know the workouts doable in home.

It's a good book ... trust me, it's gives you ideas on more How to train... add it to weight lifting or cardio... and more