Strength Training Anatomy, 3rd Edition

I owned the first edition of Strength Training Anatomy (blue cover) for nearly 15 years and I've been recommending this book to my clients for that long as well. I decided to pick up the new 3rd edition (red cover) to update my library and also to write this review.This book's concept and contents have been imitated many times, but Delavier's is the original and the best.In a nutshell, Strength Training Anatomy is a book of expertly drawn illustrations of the human body (over 600) performing weight training exercises. The primary muscles being worked are colored in red and clearly labeled. The bones, muscle fibers and muscular attachments are also beautifully illustrated.The book is divided into seven sections: Arms, Shoulders, Chest, Back, Legs, Buttocks and Abdomen. No space is wasted with introductions - the book jumps right into arms in the opening pages. A page is devoted to each exercise, and a small amount of text accompanies each illustration, explaining proper form and giving additional tips or precautions. Sidebars show exercise variations, start and finish positions and additional details (such as deep muscle anatomy with the exact muscle tendon insertions on the bone).The length is 192 pages, so it's not overwhelming - it's very digestible, yet it's also very thorough in terms of the number of exercises covered. All the major and important barbell and dumbbell exercises are included. In addition, you'll learn a variety of cable exercises and a handful of common and useful machine exercises.I don't think there's any reader from any demographic or experience level that won't benefit from owning this book. It will be appreciated by all ages and by men and women, especially since both male and female models are used in the illustrations. For beginners, this could be a training instruction "bible" for learning how to do the exercises properly and understanding exactly what muscles are working.Some people might suggest this book is only suited for the beginner, but I think advanced trainees and even fitness professionals will find this book valuable as a reference guide and may even want to keep it on their shelf within arms reach.This material is not just for bodybuilders, but as a bodybuilder myself, I think there is another potential benefit of this book that I haven't seen anyone else mention. Bodybuilders need to develop the ability to visualize muscle actions and learn how to enhance their mind to muscle connection. Studying the drawings and looking at the muscles engaged, the direction of the fibers and where they insert and attach could be a great tool to help with these mental skills.As for the 3rd edition, there is new material in this update, including much more content (it's longer, with more exercises). There are also new sections on stretching and avoiding common injuries.The publisher, Human Kinetics consistently puts out some great titles, and this is among the best of them. The book quality is excellent, including the cover, binding, paper, and again, the illustrations on every page are fantastic. The author is clearly a skilled artist who also has a medical-level understanding of the human body.Potential readers should know before buying, that this book does not contain workout programs - it focuses solely on individual exercise instruction and exercise anatomy. That doesn't detract from the value in my opinion, it actually helps keeps this volume concise and focused on one thing: strength training exercises and anatomy.On that note, again, this is not a text-heavy book and while you do get an explanation and illustration of each exercise, you don't getin-depth written details on biomechanics and muscle actions. You're mainly getting exercise instruction and muscle anatomy lessons.Also, this IS an anatomy book, so if looking at body parts and human anatomy bothers you, then you might want to take a pass. (All body parts are depicted, in places).In summary, this book deserves its 5-star ratings, and its sales and longevity in the fitness book market are not surprising.

I bought the 2nd edition of this book well over a year ago when I was on a working out kick. Unfortunately life got in the way and I stopped going to the gym for several months, and even when I started back I only dabbled with cardio workouts. About 4 months ago I started back on weights and dug out this book. Prior to that I hadn't opened it. The book as it turns out had serious printing issues, making much of it unusable. It was long past the time frame in which I could have returned it to Amazon so I contacted the publisher, Human Kinetics, instead. Their customer service was excellent! They were aware of a small number of mis-prints that fit my description and were more than happy to replace it. The CS person asked if it would be ok if the replacement was delayed a few weeks until the 3rd edition was available which greatly pleased me. I received the new book about a week ago and it was in perfect condition. Many thanks to the HK folks for their fine customer service!For those that don't already know what's in this book let me explain in detail. Everyone has seen the anatomy posters on the gym walls. The individual caricatures on the posters display a cut-away model of the human body sans skin. It highlights a muscle or group of muscles and then shows you an exercise that you can use to work that specific muscle. There usually isn't much more detail than that. Text is minimal. This book is at it basics a book version of those posters. However this book goes much, much further. The caricatures for individual muscles and muscle groups in this book usually have multiple exercise options. Text in this book explains in detail how to properly perform the exercise. It also provides useful tips on how to slightly alter the exercise to accommodate common injuries (ie, turn your wrists this way to not engage a torn wrist flexor). There are several pages of guides and background information on how to avoid certain injuries such as not fully extending your arms when doing curls to avoid tendinitis down the road. As another example the book goes into detail on how and why crunches should ALWAYS be performed with an inward curving spine (ie, fetal curve). This is to minimize the usage of the Psoas Major & Minor hip flexors and avoid the back injury they can cause. There are several excellent section of pure information in this book. The caricatures in this book are truly excellent. The artist did a fantastic job positioning and drawing the body to emphasize exactly what the reader needs to see and understand. The 3rd Edition also adds text on proper stretching among other things.I highly recommend this book to every single person lifting weights at all levels. I've shown the book to friends, coworkers and people at the gym. I've even sung its praises to complete strangers in checkout lines and restaurants. I can't say enough good things about it. The only negative thing I can think of (more of a wishful thinking thing) is that it's only available in paperback. I wish it was also available as a hardback. Taking this to the gym with you will wear it out eventually. Of course for its low price replacing it is inexpensive. It's an excellent resource.

This is one of my favorite books ever, coming from someone who does endless research on specific body parts and muscles that are trained with different exercises and variations. This is such an amazing job on describing and visually showing each exercise as well as warnings for possible injuries, and ways to stretch.