Scientific Principles and Methods of Strength Fitness

by Pat O'Shea

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201055171
• ISBN13: 9780201055177
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great "Old School" book for modern lifters

I highly recommend this book to all strength trainees. It is old but not out-dated. It covers the whole gamut of lifting from bodybuilding, and powerlifting to the Olympic lifts and provides good basic routines and photographs depicting the various exercises. I first read this book when I was at university back in the late 70's and as a very skinny beginning lifter I immediately put the Heavy-Light-Medium routine in action. I made incredible gains on this program - around 40# in 9 months, amazing my friends and family with my new size and muscle. Granted, new lifters typically can gain on almost any program, but I am glad that I started out with a good "common sense" routine as opposed to those presented in the various bodybuilding comics. Eventually I did follow those comic book routines and that is when my progress stopped. I spent many years in the hell of training confusion, overly complex routines and information overload, trying to emulate the steroid bloated bodybuilders/lifters of the day. As a "natural" I didn't stand a chance. The only way a "natural" should train in the long term is on a basic routine consisting of the compound exercises, allowing for plenty of recovery time between sessions; that is if you want to keep making progress and not stall out for what could be many years of wasting your time. During a recent scan of Mark Rippetoe's "Starting Strength" I found this exact same protocol being touted: Heavy-Light-Medium, 3 days/week making use of the compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, presses, power cleans, etc and Rippetoe's expertise is much respected. (I believe Bill Starr was perhaps the first to suggest this type of routine in "The Strongest Shall Survive") I have recently returned to this training protocol and I feel like some sanity has returned to my lifting endeavors. This book is a great one to have in your library as a reference and as a great guide to whichever form of lifting you prefer. Short and sweet, basic, "old-school weightlifting" with common sense routines on which good progress can be made - this book trumps 99% of all the "modern" weight training books on the market.