Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training
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Like the first edition this second edition is intended to serve as a compendium of those aspects of Weightlifting and Weight-Training essential to the development of physical strength A prominent feature of this book is the in-depth coverage of scientific and medical aspects of a forgotten sport In this second edition all efforts were made to revise the first edition and correct the typographical errors in spelling and grammar The book Index and Glossary have been restructured more efficiently In this edition chapters six and seven of the first edition are consolidated into one chapter with complete restructuring of the anatomical figures The following two new chapters are added Chapter seven Warm-up and Stretching eases the difficulty of planning training without weight prior to venturing into vigorous lifting Chapter twenty one Performance Analysis – immensely enhances the visual understanding of the dynamics of Weightlifting and the functional anatomy of the human body It contains impressive photographs of international Olympic weightlifters beginning by Vasily Alxeev and Pyrros Dimas and ending by Reza Zadeh With colossal collections of annotated photographic art work the second edition becomes a must have reference on weightlifting athletic performance human strife for glory health and graceful existence more info
Thorough Weight Training Book
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
What I liked: coverage of the different types of weight training (power lifting, body building, etc.), great description of body shortcomings (too stiff, weak arms, shoulders) and possible remedies, form for different lifts, interesting Egyptian history and training methods over time (40+ yrs), Q&A section
What I didn’t like: 1st edition binding unraveling, small print, overwhelming size of information, sometimes dry writing style
Who should buy this? those looking beyond the basics and wanting something more integrative & descriptive approach – whole body lifting
A New Joy On Every Page
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
“Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training”-2nd Ed. is more than a very good book on what it’s title suggests. As previous reviewers have covered the expansive index, I’ll try to add some more insights. This book benefits tremendously from the author’s 40 years of hands-on experience in Olympic Lifting combined with his education as an MD and an engineer, coupled with an unstoppable enthousiasm for spreading the word of lifting, exercising and healthy living.
Only one of many positive results is that inside the book is found the most complete technical Olympic Lifting manual I have ever read, wich on the one hand is lavishly illustrated and lively written in an attractive lay-out, and on the other hand explains the intricate mechanical why and how of the Olympic lifts through every inch from the approach to the bar until the finish in exquisite detail. A near magical mix of utterly complete technical explanation of execution, assistance exercises and training planning, and inviting, low-threshhold writing.
These characteristics jump out in every chapter, on every page, in any subject covered. The clean & jerk and the snatch stand central stage but around them are added and rigorously covered all the important ingedients for health, not only competition, or training with a barbell: cardio-vascular health, physiology down to cellular level, mental and social issues, flexibility, axial strength, adequate nutrition, maximizing training longevity, body-building and bodyweight exercises,facts & fallacies, all sub-divided again. This is a rare book where the title falls short on the contents. 576 pages (including index) of solid “uplifting” info. Highly recommended.
Nice book
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I bought this book and it was not a bad decision. Most of the reviews here are pretty accurate. He does cover unique ground in pointing out exercises that are not common in the more mainstream books like Body for Life and Lean Body Promise. The first edition has its fair share of editorial bugs but I think that you could piece together the general meaning given the context. I would point out that most books do not go into lifts such as the clean and snatch due to injury possibility. This is something that needs to be covered because some of these exercises can really put a person into jeopardy if they did not slowly build up to these type of movements. The more mainstream books tend to stick with bodyshaping movements and do not really go into more “athletic” moves. This is a good resource to consult for those type of movements but most people that I see working out at the gym are not into that type of lifting. In that way, the book is a bit overkill. The author has taken unnecessary pot-shots at the Body for Life and Lean Body books for being to simplistic or “looks based”, but that is what a lot of people go for these days. They just want to know how to get from A to B as fast as possible. You look at Body for Life (even with its flaws) and the program is fairly simple and will give results as long as you are consistent. The downside with this book is that in being as comprehensive as it is, it misses the typical American way of life. I am not saying that this is the right way of thinking but it is out there. I would say that this is really geared towards those that are more advanced and not intimidated about more advanced lifting techniques.
One of the best books to have as a reference even for a woman of any age (even 75 years old.)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The descriptions of the reviewers: Slavisa Nesic and Larry Wagner “Athlete, Analyst, Coach, Dad” in this list do an excellent review and detailed description of the book. I just wanted to add my voice, as a woman, that I found his book incredibly useful too.
As is stated, the emphasis of El Howie’s book is on weight-lifting and power-lifting (which focuses more on strength) as compared with Bodybuilding (to get those shapely muscles that make our stomach flat and the rest of us curvaceous.) Women in general want to look great in a bikini and the Bodybuilding orientation is the way to go.
But he gives enough coverage to Body-building and nevertheless, he is meticulous about form.
The other two books I have liked in conjunction with this is Delavier’s Strength Anatomy and his Women’s Strength Training Anatomy (I recommend getting both whether you are male or female.) Those books give you very clear basics for form, lots of detailed diagrams and so forth. El Howie’s book is extremely comprehensive.
There are various debates as to how often to work out, whether you should focus on just parts of the body each day at a time or workout the whole body in each session. There are also differences of opinion as to best plan your meals, whether and when you should do cardio in conjunction with the weight-lifting. It would be useful, if you are a first-timer, to go for Body for Life or some other program that involves lifting weights. At bottom, in my experience, how one comes out on the various debates invariable is what works best for them, whether physiologically, psychologically or schedule wise.
I just want to say to any woman reading this, if you don’t already know, you will never get back or achieve that girlish figure if you don’t lift weights and lift heavy weights. And you can no matter what you age.
Though I do not want to provide a link on an Amazon post, if you google John Stone 42 the first link that comes up should be “Fit Women over 42- 89 on parade.” If you go to that link you will find tons of stories with pictures of women going through fantastic transformations starting at age 50, 60 and older. Don’t ever believe you are “too old” or “too out of shape” to achieve this.
And El-Howie’s book is a great reference for getting form down correctly to get the best results and not injure yourself.
great effort
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The accurate and high quality pictures are the strongest side of this book.
The writer is really intelligent and knows what he is talking about. You can disagree with some of his advice, but at least you understand where he is coming from.
Caution: at least half of the book is on health and exercise in general, but an olympic weightlifter will get his/her money’s worth.
You’re Never Too Old
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Learn the right forms for power lifting and weightlifting so you don’t injure yourself when lifting. Even a 75-year-old woman will find this reference guide a useful fitness tool.
Great book, but….
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a great book really. The only point that really don’t like is about its phylosophy of training, a little old. The author says in the FAQ that to do Squats 2sets/2 times a week “is a joke”, and about the liftings recomend to train daily. He says some think like this about aerobic exercises too. Anyone that know about bodybuilding-without-drugs and efficiency of time/effort in aerobics know that what HE is saying is the real joke.
The is not a book about bodybuilding, off course, but such frequency of work only can be done with the specific kind of “fuel” or with very very low intensity, so, the author should clear the reason because he says a absurd like that, or some natural athlete can take him seriously and hurt himself.
However, if the reader/athlete is very well informed about the modern thoughts about intensity and frequency in strength/aerobics training, he will know adapt the rich informations of this book to his need.
Detailed review by former physiology teaching fellow and biochemist…
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Although I am currently not in the best of shape, at one time I worked as a personal trainer and by education I was trained as a research scientist. I have graduate education in both physiology and biochemistry and have worked with some high end athletes including one Olympic level powerlifter. Currently, I am looking to use strength training again myself because I was sidelined for a number of years by a back and neck injury, this is the context for my interview.
The first thing I would like to say is that I own and have bought many books on strength training and most of them are not even in the same category as this book. Of the books that are out there, most of them say the same thing in different ways, make unsubstantiated claims or set unrealistic expectations. In short, this book is a welcome exception. It is well-organized, detailed, thorough, well-written and dense with valuable material.
A lot of the focus here is on training for powerlifting. However, it’s also a great strength training text with lots of references. The scope of the book is ambitious and covers the proper way to perform important exercises, information about periodization, explanations of how different types of programs affect the body, the importance of coordination, etc.
In addition, this title has many useful diagrams, training ideas and references to actual studies. The information in it is very credible and much more than one person’s opinion. I was also extremely impressed with the detailed descriptions of how each exercise works, the anatomy involved and the sections on physiology.
One might assume that a book like this would read like a text book in accounting or calculus (not that there is anything wrong with either of these subjects)…. However, it sometimes difficult to be technically precise and at the same time engaging to the reader. On this account, Dr. El-Hewie has certainly succeeded.
Although this book is quite expensive, it covers a TREMENDOUS amount of ground in a reasonable space. It was clearly a labor of love and it is well worth every cent. Rather than wasting money on more of the same, I recommend getting a few good books. This is one I would NOT like to be without.
Another book that I saw recently for hard-gainers had a lot of good content in terms of building mass. I think it fell down a bit in the nutrition/supplement area, but it is much less expensive than this and covers a subset of this material that is most important to training properly for mass. This book is called From Scrawny to Brawny. There are a FEW other books I saw that I thought were quite good and I will be reviewing them in the near future. I will most likely be reviewing the ones I thought were quite bad as well.
Lastly, this book covers lots of nuances like nervous system adaptation, relationships between strength, mass and power. The importance of coordination and how to plan a path forward depending upon your goals. It’s really one stop shopping for an athletic approach to strength training vs. bodybuilding. Bodybuilders will find a lot of great material here, but this is NOT the emphasis of this particular book.
Good book
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I purchased this book with the intent to learn more about the sport I participate in, which is Olympic Weightlifting. I found the book to very informative on each aspect of lifting. I also liked the detailed explanations throughout the book.
The only thing I recommend for the next version of this book aside from updating out of date information, ie the Weight Classes for Olympic Weightlifting, is better editing. There were grammatical errors and such throughout the book, but it was still readable.
Other than the editing, I’m very pleased to add this book to my library and will recommend it others that want to learn more about Olympic Weightlifting or another form of lifting.
Solid information
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
There have been some pretty in depth reviews that cover this book well, but I had a couple of points I wanted to make.
This book is a terrific resource for anyone wanting to take the step into weightlifting or strength training. The emphasis of this book upon strength and healthy living is somewhat at odds with most mainstream literature due to their basis in bodybuilding. As a result this book and the author should be commended for promoting a healthy approach to weight training as a lifestyle and practice. Finally someone who “gets it”, lifting shouldn’t be about looking healthy and strong, it should be about being healthy and strong.
The only flaw I see in this book is the author’s english skills. His first language is clearly not english and as such he does have some confusing sentences and paragraphs. But I only noticed this for the first 1-2 chapters, either you get used to it or it the bulk of the book has been more tightly edited.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in strength training, especially those wishing to learn the snatch and clean and jerk.