I love the advice and options available in the book! The author provides options for home use (dumbbells, exercise ball, own body weight) as well as options when gym equipment is available. There are sample workouts for different phases of your training and a blank workout log to copy and create a tracking method for your workouts. The photos are realistic and truly demonstrate the moves. ( )

I've been on a weightloss journey for about 3 years now. I've lost the weight I need, and now I'm sculpting my body to get rid of that excess skin that comes along with the weightloss. This book has helped tremendously in letting me do that! With easy to follow workouts that don't hurt your body, it's easy to become addicted to getting in shape.
The experts that wrote this sure knew what they were doing. I strongly recommend this for anyone getting into body training and muscle building. ( )

This book is informative for both beginners and advanced fitness levels. I like the methodical approach. I've already begun using some of the program in my fitness plan. My book is a review copy. ( )

I was very impressed with the simple wording and pictures to help readers complete the exercises and skills that are included in the book. I also really liked how it was broken up into sections based on the part of the body you are working on. The progressions were very helpful as well. ( )

Strong and Sculpted is an informational book filled with sections that discus the developments in exercise science in regards to many aspects of working out. The book appears to be geared toward women, although I don't think any of the information was too gender specific. The author provides personal anecdotes and observations while iinforming the reader about his training program and specific exercises that are used within the program. His description of the program includes basic information about volume, frequency, loading, intensity, and rest, and how those factors can vary depending on where you are in your training and your training goals. The exercises are broken into chapters for each muscle group and the author lists exercises using free weights, cable systems, weight machines, and some body weight options, which I think adds to the appeal of his approach. He also provides several phases within the program for the different stages of training, from newbie to advanced. There is also a chapter about balancing your workouts with cardiovascular exercise and how it can complement a resistance training program.

I think that this book has a lot of useful information for women looking to educate themselves about resistance training. While I haven't gone through the training program (as that would take over a year to progress through the phases even with previous physical activity) it does seem to be a pretty balanced program that could help someone new to resistance training or struggling with a current program to move forward toward their goals. The information the author provides is specifically to give the reader enough knowledge to assess their routine and draw from the exercises within as well as their previous knowledge to craft a training program that suits them, but there are also sample programs for each phase that allow the more hesitant individual a template to start with. I will be drawing from this book as I tweak my own exercise program over time.

I received this book as a LibraryThing Early Reviewer. ( )