100 Best Weightlifting Books of All Time
We've researched and ranked the best weightlifting books in the world, based on recommendations from world experts, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. Learn more
Packed with over 600 anatomical illustrations of muscles from each major muscle group, the updated edition features 48 additional pages, 12 new exercises, and 18 stretches. less
Inside, Arnold covers the very latest advances in both weight training and bodybuilding competition, with new sections on diet and nutrition, sports psychology, the treatment and prevention of injuries, and methods of training, each illustrated with detailed photos of some of bodybuilding's newest stars.
Plus, all the... more
Join the movement that has reached millions of athletes and coaches; learn how to perform basic maintenance on your body, unlock your human potential, live pain free…and become a Supple Leopard.
Improve your athletic performance, extend your athletic career, treat body stiffness and achy joints, and rehabilitate injuries—all without having to seek out a coach, doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, or masseur. In Becoming a Supple Leopard, Kelly Starrett—founder of... more
Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.
lessMichael GervaisOne of the books I often give away is Mind Gym by Gary Mack. It’s a very mechanical, easy, lots-of-white-space-on-the-page book. And it’s one of my favourites, a very applied synopsis of mental skills from a sport and performance psychology standpoint. (Source)
Is it possible to:
Reach your genetic potential in 6 months?
Sleep 2 hours per day and perform better than on 8 hours?
Lose more fat than a marathoner by bingeing?
Indeed, and much more. This is not just another diet and fitness book.
The 4-Hour Body is the result of an obsessive quest, spanning more than a decade, to hack the human body. It contains the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes, dozens of MDs, and thousands of hours of... more
Jon FavreauI’ve given [this book] to people. (Source)
Bryan CallenI probably have recommended The Art of Learning and The 4-Hour Body, I'm not kidding, more than any other books. (Source)
Marin GerovTalking of Tim Ferriss, his series (The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef) have been extremely good resources for improving work, health, and learning. (Source)
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
This is Kettlebell Simple & Sinister: Revised & Updated Edition or simply S&S 2.0.
Learn how to use the extreme hand-held gym from the man who started the kettlebell revolution.
Simple & Sinister will physically prepare you for almost...
moreThe Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises is the essential workout guide for anyone who wants a better body. As the most comprehensive collection of exercises ever created, this book is a body-shaping power tool for both beginners and long-time lifters alike. This book contains hundreds of useful tips, the latest findings in exercise science, and cutting-edge workouts from the world's top trainers.
Backed by the authority of Men's Health magazine, this revised edition of the bestseller will feature 100 new... more
290 full-color illustrations allow you to see inside 157 exercises and 49 programs for strengthening, sculpting, and developing your arms, chest, back, shoulders, abs, legs, and glutes.
Step-by-step instructions work in tandem with the anatomical illustrations to ensure understanding of maximizing the efficiency of... more
Born in the small city of Thal, Austria, in 1947, Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to Los Angeles at the age of twenty-one. Within ten years, he was a millionaire businessman. After twenty years, he was the world’s biggest movie star. In 2003, he was elected governor of California and a household name around the world.
Chronicling his embodiment of the American Dream,... more
Yaro StarakI love really detailed biographies, the thick ones, like the Arnold Schwarzenegger one and also Steve Jobs, the one done a few years ago was nice and solid really goes into the details, I love those. They’ve always been really impactful, whether it’s an entrepreneur or an athlete or a well-known celebrity or expert or historical figure, those biographies have had a big impact on me as well and... (Source)
Irina BotnariI’m definitely a story-lover and maybe that’s why I like to read a lot of biographies. It’s fascinating to discover how people with different backgrounds, interests, businesses, careers have found solutions for various challenges from all areas of their life. Elon Musk, Andre Agassi, Phil Knight, Maria Sharapova, Arnold Schwarzenegger are only a few of good recent ones. A specific moment when I... (Source)
Michael HerrmannSchwarzenegger's autobiography. Very interesting as well. He's a true self-made man. (Source)
With more asanas, vinyasas, full-color anatomical illustrations, and in-depth information, the second edition of "Yoga" "Anatomy" provides you with a deeper understanding of the structures and principles underlying each movement and of yoga itself.
From breathing to inversions to standing poses, see how specific muscles respond to the movements of the joints; how alterations of a pose can enhance or reduce effectiveness; and how the spine, breathing, and body position are all... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Contreras spent the last eighteen years researching and field-testing the best methods for building better butts and shapelier bodies. In Strong Curves, he offers the programs that have proven effective time and time again with his clients, allowing you to develop lean muscle, rounded glutes, and greater confidence.
more
So wrote Coretta Scott King. She continued: "I believe it is because this book best explains the central element of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence: His belief in a divine, loving presence that binds all life." That insight, luminously conveyed in this classic text, here presented in a new and attractive edition, hints at the personal transformation at the root of social justice: "By... more
Over 1 million readers have turned to Strength Training Anatomy for the most effective exercises in strength training. Now put those exercises to work for you with The Strength Training Anatomy Workout, Volume II.
Over 500 full-color photos and 485 full-color illustrations allow you to go inside 60 exercises, 19 stretches, and 9 programmed workouts to see how muscles interact with surrounding joints and skeletal structures and how variations, progressions, and sequencing can affect muscle recruitment, the... more
Zach Even EshThe Book Super Squats is awesome. Kids need to be reading stuff like that. Coaches in their 20s need to read it as well! https://t.co/lPsAicMUR3 (Source)
"Delavier's Stretching Anatomy" is your guide for increasing flexibility, improving range of motion, toning muscles, and relieving pain and discomfort. The very best stretches for shoulders, chest, arms, torso, back, hips, and legs are all here, and all in the stunning detail that only Frederic Delavier can provide.
With over 550 full-color photos and illustrations, you'll go inside more than 130 exercises to see how muscles interact with surrounding joints and skeletal structures and learn how... more
Doctors Volek and Phinney share over 50 years of clinical experience using low carbohydrate diets, and together they... more
Together the authors have trained more than 1,000 elite athletes, including Olympic, world, continental, and national champions and record... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
"The Strength Training Anatomy Workout "is your guide to creating the body and the results you want. Strengthen arms and legs; increase muscle mass; sculpt chest, back, and core; firm glutes; increase hip flexibility . . . it's all here, and all in the stunning detail that only Frederic Delavier can provide!
Over 150 full-color illustrations allow you to get inside more... more
But to complicate matters, a handsome newcomer named Henry Rhodes plagues her with unwanted attention. Though he doesn't believe in the supernatural events, she enlists his help and that of quirky nerd... more
Josh Hanagarne couldn't be invisible if he tried. Although he wouldn't officially be diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome until his freshman year of high school, Josh was six years old and onstage in a school Thanksgiving play when he first began exhibiting symptoms. By the time he was twenty, the young Mormon had reached his towering adult height of 6'7" when — while serving on a mission for the Church of Latter Day Saints — his Tourette's tics escalated to nightmarish levels. more
Checking in at nearly 400 pages, Scientific Principles is co-authored by Dr. Mike Israetel (author of The Renaissance Diet), Dr. James Hoffmann (Exercise Science Professor at Temple University) and Chad Wesley Smith (Top 10 Raw Powerlifter of All-Time). This trio of authors has given Scientific Principles a unique combination of scientific and practical knowledge, not found in any other text.
Covered in Scientific... more
All expertly demonstrated with color photographs, with... more
The Art of Expressing the Human Body, a title coined by Bruce Lee himself to describe his approach to martial arts, documents the techniques he used so effectively to perfect his body for superior health and muscularity.
Beyond his martial arts and acting abilities, Lee's physical appearance and strength were truly astounding. He achieved this through an intensive and ever-evolving conditioning regime that is being revealed for the first time in... more
The scope and content of Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, Fourth Edition... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
The World's Fittest Book is set to become every fitness enthusiast's bible. Dubbed the body's complete user guide, it will become the go-to resource for learning all you need to know about building muscle, losing fat, eating (healthy) cake and unlocking your superhuman physical potential.
Packed with workouts the author tried and tested in the pursuit of multiple world records, it's more than a book, it's the greatest training tool ever written! Designed for anyone who wants to make permanent and lasting changes to their food and... more
Michael Boyle, one of the world's leading sport performance coaches, presents the concepts, methods, exercises, and programs that maximize athletes' movements in competition. A series of functional assessments help in determining the design of a specific plan for each athlete. Self-reinforcing progressions in exercises for the lower body, core, upper body, and... more
* definitions of key terms and concepts;
* evaluations of equipment options, including TRX, BOSU, and kettlebells;
* explanations of the role and importance of each muscle group;
* latest nutrition information for losing fat and increasing muscle mass;
* presentations of the best exercises,... more
The worst advice an older person ever gets is, “Take it easy.” Easy makes you soft, and soft makes you dead. The Barbell Prescription maps an escape from... more
Over 330 full-color photos and 130 anatomical illustrations allow you to go inside more than 100 exercises to see how muscles interact with surrounding joints and skeletal structures and how variations, progressions, and sequencing can isolate specific muscles to help you achieve targeted results. It's like having an X-ray of each exercise
"Delavier's Anatomy for Bigger, Stronger Arms" includes over 30 proven programs for strength, size, and... more
I still remember that first visit to the bodybuilding gym. I had never seen anyone lifting weights before. Those guys were huge and brutal….The weight lifters shone with sweat; they were powerful looking, Herculean. And there it was before me—my life, the answer I'd been seeking. It clicked. It was... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Targeting all muscle zones and primary muscle regions--arms, chest, shoulders, back, core, thighs, glutes, and calves--Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy presents 156 of the most effective bodyweight exercises that can be performed anytime, anywhere. With expert... more
Foundation by Dr. Eric Goodman and Peter Park shifts the training focus from the front of your body to the back. By strengthening the full posterior chain and correcting poor movement patterns, you will maximize power, flexibility, and endurance and say goodbye to back pain. less
"Henoch has assembled a straightforward, systematic approach to evaluating and correcting... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Whether you're looking to eliminate love handles, tighten your glutes, or add definition to your legs, "Delavier's Sculpting Anatomy for Women" presents the exercises, programming, and advice for the results you want. It's all here and all in the stunning detail that only Frederic Delavier can provide!
Step-by-step... more
If so, then Man 2.0: Engineering the Alpha was written specifically for you...
In his new book, celebrity trainer and Men's Health expert John 'Roman' Romaniello teams up with expert Adam Bornstein, former editor for both Men's Health and LIVESTRONG. Together, they reveal the secrets they've discovered that will give any man—no matter how old... more
Terry CrewsI read [this book]. And I was like this is crazy. It was unthinkable that you only eat eight hours in a day and a sixteen hour fast. And I do it every day. (Source)
This book was written for you as a simple, yet detailed instruction manual. You get step-by-step instructions: Do this, don’t do that, eat this, don’t eat that, and so on. This is not just an... more
Dottir is two-time consecutive CrossFit Games Champion Katrin Davidsdottir's inspiring and poignant memoir. As one of only two women in history to have won the title of “Fittest Woman on Earth” twice, Davidsdottir knows all about the importance of mental and physical strength. She won the title in 2015, backing it up with a second win in 2016, after starting CrossFit in just 2011.
A gymnast as a youth, Davidsdottir wanted to try new challenges and found a love of CrossFit. But it hasn't... more
Annie ThorisdottirI met Katrin during her first week of attending CrossFit classes, shortly after my first CrossFit Games championship...Her story is a reminder to fans and aspiring athletes that anyone can achieve greatness if they are willing to work hard enough. It’s also a testament to the power of Iceland’s Dottirs that makes my heart swell with pride. (Source)
Mat FraserKatrin Davidsdottir is a fierce competitor with a great story. In the season leading up to my first CrossFit Games championship she was my primary training partner, and she pushed me to new levels of performance. That year I trained by myself mostly, but I would picture her there next to me and think, she wouldn’t be putting the bar down… she would be taking shorter breaks. But Kat wasn’t always... (Source)
In Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men, legendary athlete Arnold Schwarzenegger shows you how to achieve the best physical condition of your life. For every man, at every age, Arnold outlines a step-by-step program of excercise, skillfully combining weight training and aerobic conditioning. The result—total cardiovascular and muscular fitness.
Arnold's program of exercise features stretching, warm-up and warm-down routines, and three... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
How do professional bodybuilders get that chiseled look? It's as much about what happens in the kitchen as it is about what happens in the gym. Professionals fuel their bodies with precise nutrients delivered at specific times to achieve their sculpted physiques, and now you can, too. The Bodybuilder's Kitchen provides expert guidance on what to eat, when to
eat it, and helps you understand how our bodies use what we eat to burn fat and build lean, strong muscle.... more
You probably know a lot about building muscle. You know which curl is the best for your biceps, you do every possible exercise for your abdominals, and your 20-set bench-press routine is the envy of everyone in the gym. So why haven't you gotten the results you want?
This book has the answer. In fact, it probably answers every question you've ever asked about how your muscles work: What makes them grow? What makes them show? Why didn't that champion... more
For decades, the seminal work has been Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, but GenY is ready for a fresh new guidebook that takes a healthier approach to bodybuilding written by the poster boy for clean eating and natural homegrown muscle, Tyler... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
Introducing the Incredible True Story of the Greatest Bodybuilder Ever
Ronnie Coleman s Autobiography, told by Ronnie Himself
Best known for winning the Mr. Olympia title eight times, and for lifting every heavyweight in existence (including an 800-pound squat for two easy reps), Ronnie Coleman came from humble beginnings.
Born in rural Louisiana to a single mother, Ronnie rose from poverty to achieve his lifelong goal of becoming the best bodybuilder in history. In the process, he learned about life, victory,... more
A few reasons why William Llewellyn's ANABOLICS remains the #1 Bestselling Anabolic Reference Guide worldwide: - Nearly 200 Pharmaceutical Compounds... more
You don’t have to hire a personal trainer to learn how to lift weights the smart, safe way. The Beginner’s Guide to Weight Lifting is the perfect companion for men and women who are starting from scratch and want to begin working out at the gym or at home.
From air squats to barbell bench presses, you’ll explore beginner-friendly exercises with clear illustrations so you can perfect your form, get stronger while building muscle, and improve your cardiovascular health. The Beginner’s Guide to Weight... more
Over 230 full-color photos and 120 anatomical illustrations allow you to go inside more than 120 exercises specifically selected for the neuromuscular demands of the sport. You'll see how muscles interact with surrounding joints and skeletal structures and how variations and sequencing can isolate specific muscles to enhance the full arsenal of combat skills.
Delavier's Mixed... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.
If you want to get strong and ripped naturally, then you need to train like a pro! Building a natural body that is strong and lean takes effort and know-how. Natural bodybuilder Erin Stern is a two-time Ms. Figure Olympia and she knows what it takes to build a body the right way. Now you can use the same natural bodybuilding techniques Erin uses to build lean, strong muscle, and... more
Strength training offers many benefits for active adults, including enhanced athletic performance, reduced risk of disease, and decreased symptoms of arthritis, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
Whether you are just getting started or have been training your entire life, Strength Training Past 50 has you covered. In the third edition of this best-selling guide, you'll find these topics:
- 83 exercises for free weights, machines, bands,... more
Don't have time to read the top Weightlifting books of all time? Read Shortform summaries.
Shortform summaries help you learn 10x faster by:
- Being comprehensive: you learn the most important points in the book
- Cutting out the fluff: you focus your time on what's important to know
- Interactive exercises: apply the book's ideas to your own life with our educators' guidance.