Men's Health: The Book of Muscle--The World's Most Authoritative Guide to Building Your Body

Exercise ain't easy. The body is a complicated machine, with 650 muscles and 250 million individual muscle fibers. Some would say taming those fibers and building strong, healthy muscles is not an act of labor. Some would say it's an art. Here's a book worthy of that art. The Men's Health Book of Muscle is the big, lavishly illustrated, full-color coffee table book that only Men's Health could produce-one that doubles as the ultimate guide to building a better body. The goal of The Book of Muscle is simple: create a beautiful, artistic guide to the body that also helps guys build great physiques by showing in detail how muscles work and how that knowledge can be put to use. Inside, you'll find lush anatomical illustrations and photographs of a quality that no other book on fitness can match. You'll also find complex biological information, boiled down to language any guy can understand, and three 6-month workout programs, one each for beginner, intermediate, and advanced lifters. It's big muscles, big benefit, and beautiful all at the same time. It's the book you've always wanted from the guys at Men's Health, the fitness experts you trust.

You might think that the subtitle, "The World's Most Authoritative Guide to Building Your Body," is hyperbole, but The Book of Muscle from Men's Health delivers as promised. Australian strength coach and former powerlifting champion Ian King and Men's Health fitness director Lou Schuler cover everything you want to know about your muscles and what makes them grow, complete with dietary recommendations, exercises for every muscle group, and exercise routines. Each muscle group is illustrated and discussed, with 149 pages of clearly described, well-photographed exercises using a variety of equipment. A section on workout routines helps you put together your own program, from beginner to advanced.

Schuler's guy-talk style makes the book enjoyable to read, even on days when you have no intention of going to the gym. The artistic drawings of muscle groups, full-color photographs of beginning and ending positions of every exercise, and stunning close-ups of buffed body parts make The Book of Muscle is as beautiful as it is practical and motivating, an exceptional gift for the fitness guy in your life, and well worth the price. Highly recommended for men wanting to get in shape or stay there. --Joan Price