Has anybody had the chance to buy Ian King’s new book published by Men’s Health? Any reviews?
Ian’s articles here have been great, but the last time I looked at a Men’s Health magazine it appeared to be rather useless (unless you wanna read Jimmy the Bartender’s advice, learn some trivia, or read about the latest electronic gadgets.) I’m wondering if this book is all Ian King, or if it’s Ian King fitting his writing to guys that would be interested in the typical Men’s Health fare.
Thanks
Bump.
I got it as a birthday gift and I was skeptical at first too. The nutrition advice is very weak and not very detailed, at least compared to the information on this site.
The training however seems to be completely King. There are workouts for the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level each level consisting of 27 weeks of training (rest included). The workouts are set up into four stages: General conditioning and anatomical adaptation, hypertrophy, strength, and maximal strength and power.
Also, the book contains very detailed pictures and descriptions of basic exercises (squat, deadlift, bench, etc) as well as Kings exercises (king deadlifts, one legged squats, etc).
I’m happy with it. I’ll be starting the intermediate program in january.
Haven’t seen the book yet but knowing Ian, it will have plenty of good info and workouts in it. Here’s the catch; if you are familiar with his articles here, which can be found in the previous issues, then I’m sure you wont get anything new from this book.
Thanks guys, I bought and just finished the book.
I wonder what % of buyers will actually follow one of the programs Ian lays out in the book. They read as being awkward as hell and they don’t seem very enjoyable. I’m gonna try the intermediate program at the beginning of December…see how it goes.
Update us, or at least me, with how you like it. I’m probably going to start after thanksgiving or next year.
I’m sure the book is decent. I would tend to think that you could pick up more of his routines on this site though. Why go through the trouble of buying a book when there is detailed info from the “King” right here?
Basically, what I got out of it was two six month periodized programs. I think I’ll start one next week.
I’ll be reviewing the book for a future “Stuff We Like” column. Just got it this week but haven’t read it yet.
First impressions - Great looking book: hardcover, full color, big, glossy, looks almost like a classy coffee table book.
We get very used to self-published or cheaply published books from strength coaches, so this one really stands out. Lou Schuler and Men’s Health have done a great job with the presentation. This is a high quality item, what you’d expect from Men’s Health.
The info? Don’t know, haven’t read it yet. Just skimming it, I’d say that if you’ve read every Ian King article here at T-mag, there might not be too much new in the book for you, but we’ll see.
T-mag will publish a full review in a future “Stuff” column (but not the one running this Friday, the next one.) Stay tuned.
Are any of the workouts copies of what King published in Men’s Health 1 or 2 years ago?
"Are any of the workouts copies of what King published in Men’s Health 1 or 2 years ago? "
I looked at the book at Borders a couple of days ago. Generally speaking, it is a stretched out version of the MH program – some of the exercises are a little different, but the general idea is the same. By stretched out, I mean that it is about 3 times as long (three 27-week programs – beginner, intermediate, advanced).
That said, King’s MH program was a pretty good one. If you liked the MH program, you will probably like this one. However, if you don’t want to start at the “beginning” you are going to be paying for three programs, but only doing two or even one. I’d say that you really ought to go to the bookstore and do some serious thumbing through the book before deciding whether to buy. It might be a mistake to just go to Amazon or BN or MH and buy it sight unseen.
Porkchop