Training Book Recommendations?

This is my first post on T-Nation.

A little background without tellin my whole life story.
Been working out for about 8 years on and off. I feel like a FU**'in noob.

I wanna shift from destructive bodybuilding type workouts to an intelligent well thought out program focused on FUNCITONAL STRENGTH, POWER, MUSCULAR BALANCE, EXPLOSIVE LIFTS, STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING AND CONTROL.
Not that theres anything wrong with BB, its just not in the cards 4 me.

My workouts in the past have lacked proper balance causing injury, proper periodization causing few results, and just kinda suck period.

Can someone recomend a book that will get me on the right track in terms of my goals stated above?

Keep in my mind i have spent a few days searching the forums so im not asking to be spoon fed, i would just like some up-to-date feedback.

Thanks you.

[quote]zeroooo wrote:
This is my first post on T-Nation.

A little background without tellin my whole life story.
Been working out for about 8 years on and off. I feel like a FU**'in noob.

I wanna shift from destructive bodybuilding type workouts to an intelligent well thought out program focused on FUNCITONAL STRENGTH, POWER, MUSCULAR BALANCE, EXPLOSIVE LIFTS, STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING AND CONTROL.
Not that theres anything wrong with BB, its just not in the cards 4 me.

My workouts in the past have lacked proper balance causing injury, proper periodization causing few results, and just kinda suck period.

Can someone recomend a book that will get me on the right track in terms of my goals stated above?

Keep in my mind i have spent a few days searching the forums so im not asking to be spoon fed, i would just like some up-to-date feedback.

Thanks you.

[/quote]

Mark Rippetoe’s ‘Starting Strength’ 2nd ed

Stuart McRobert’s ‘Beyond Brawn’

Both seem to fit the bill. Starting Strength is the most exhaustive explanation on the how and why of basic barbell training that I have ever read. It also includes vital info on
program design.

Beyond Brawn is a very insightful look at body building via a basics first approach focused on the big compound lifts(like those found in Starting Strength), and well planned periodization. McRobert can be a bit of a nag about overtraining, but like with anything, take what’s useful, ignore the rest.

I would read both of these, SS provides the technical end of things and BB the philosophical I guess. Hope that helps.

I recommend the following for a good start.

For lifting
Starting Strength by Rippietoe
New Rules of Lifting by Cosgrove
Maximum Strength by Cressey

For warm ups
Magnificent Mobility by Cressey and Robertson
Inside Out Warm Up by Robertson and Hartman

For nutrition
Precision Nutrition by Berardi

I think you’ll find ‘Maximum Strength’ by Eric Cressey a really useful read for what you’re looking for.

and I’d also ditto the advice to get ‘Inside out’ and ‘mag mobility’ dvds.

i have the rippetoe book. good stuff.

how about Chad Waterbury, muscle revolution?

i just bought maximum strength for $13.00. can’t go wrong. i’ve been looking into all yur suggestions so keep em coming and thanks!

[quote]ninjaboy wrote:
I recommend the following for a good start.

For lifting
Starting Strength by Rippietoe
New Rules of Lifting by Cosgrove
Maximum Strength by Cressey

For warm ups
Magnificent Mobility by Cressey and Robertson
Inside Out Warm Up by Robertson and Hartman

For nutrition
Precision Nutrition by Berardi

[/quote]

New Rules is awesome, but I think it tries to do too much in one book. I’m not sure how much someone with a basic concept of how to lift and eat would get from it…then again, I got a lot from it my first couple reads through…and then handed it to a friend to get him off of a 20 exercise machine circuit, so never mind, yeah, New Rules is awesome.

[quote]zeroooo wrote:
i have the rippetoe book. good stuff.

how about Chad Waterbury, muscle revolution?[/quote]

If you have Starting Strength, read it again, there are definitely worse ways to spend your time.

[quote]zeroooo wrote:
i have the rippetoe book. good stuff.

how about Chad Waterbury, muscle revolution?[/quote]

Yeah it’s def a good one to add to your library, it has all his progs set out at the back too.

I like Power Training by Robert Dos Remedios I think its the greatest book of all time

I disagree it is a very good book, but I think NROL is the best book ever

NROL sucks!

You know what you suck!

Seriously Power Training is pretty effin good

riiiight. well i got muscle revolution via pdf while i wait for the other to come in the mail and im bout 80 pages in. so far its a good read. Allot of it is stuff you’ve probably heard if you read any book on the subject but his periodization concepts are worth looking into as well as the progression concepts.

Practical Programming

Dan John’s From The Ground Up, is great(and free!) Full of works-every-time classic advice. Can get it off his website danjohn.org.

The Dan John archive here is full of nuggets of gold as well.

Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding is excellent, has both cutting edge Soviet templates and no-frills old timer programs.