Today, for the first time in many many months, I walked into a Barnes and Noble. My goal? To find a few GOOD books on Strength training and weightlifting.
Brother Iron, Sister Steel? Pffft, no thank you. Its written with the brains of a dumb blonde with more opinionated arguments than factual ones.
Anatomy of Strength Training? Interesting book, very well depicted, but again a little basic - all information I already had.
Body for Life? I shit on thee.
However, one book shined like a piece of gold. Tudor Bompa’s Periodization training for sports. As I opened this book I saw the most factual, well researched book Ive laid my hands on. It deserves all the credit it received. At 19.95 it was a bargain when you compare its outstanding picture and paper quality as well as the way it was written, with Poliquin’s Principles picture quality, poor paper quality, excuseless errors at roughly 30 bucks.
This guy knows his stuff. I will be doing much reading tonight. Any GOOD books on weightlifting? Share!!!
Bompa has also written a book called Serious Strength Training. If you like Periodization (the how-to-write-the-roadmap-book), then you may find Serious Strength Training very usleful. Keep in mind though that periodizing in the same manor that Bompa outline’s won’t help you much with your clients.
I’d recommend learning as much about the pronciple of integration as possible. I can’t recommend any sources as I learned about it in a seminar hosted by two of Ian King’s ‘associates’. Perhaps one of King’s books would be the place to start.
Bompa’s ideas on periodization were fine when they first came out, but have been supplanted by far more effective systems. His books are more for historical value now than cutting-edge training info. Of course, if you’re not familiar with the concepts presented, then they make a decent introduction. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that the stuff works as advertised for the average trainee.
And I have to take issue with your characterization of BISS. While Draper’s admittedly a bit out there, he has more writing style than most, and a very good attitude for staying in the game over the long haul. As you get older you may find yourself appreciating it more than you’re able to at this point.
Diesel23, why wouldn’t you like Brother Iron Sister Steel? Because it isn’t “scientific” enough? Not based on facts? Being based on 30-40 years of hardcore training (and still going) sounds better to me. I personally like Draper’s writing style and wit. Keep in mind, Draper looks better in his 60’s than a lot of 20-30 year olds who think they know everything about lifting.