This isn’t a normal recommendation of books on muscles.
It’s nowhere even close to being an exhaustive list.
This is not the list of bodybuilding books.
These 5 books are my personal recommendation, which everyone passionate about fitness, muscle building and life, must read. These recommended books on muscles are a mix of books which may be quite research based, but then there are books on the extremes of mental toughness and even a touch of philosophy.
Here are my top 5 choices:
1. Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy – Brad Schoenfeld – This is a comprehensive compilation of science-based principles to help professionals develop muscle hypertrophy in athletes and clients. With more than 825 references and applied guidelines throughout, no other resource offers a comparable quantity of content solely focused on muscle hypertrophy. Readers will find up-to-date content so they fully understand the science of muscle hypertrophy and its application to designing training programs. Written by Brad Schoenfeld, PhD, a leading authority on muscle hypertrophy, this text provides strength and conditioning professionals, personal trainers,sport scientists, researchers, and exercise science instructors with a definitive resource for information regarding muscle hypertrophy-the mechanism of its development, how the body structurally and hormonally changes when exposed to stress, ways to most effectively design training programs, and current nutrition guidelines for eliciting hypertrophic changes.
Although muscle hypertrophy can be attained through a range of training programs, this text allows readers to understand and apply the specific responses and mechanisms that promote optimal muscle hypertrophy in their athletes and clients. It explores how genetic background, age, sex, and other factors have been shown to mediate the hypertrophic response to exercise, affecting both the rate and the total gain in lean muscle mass.
Sample programs in the text show how to design a three- or four-day-per-week undulating periodized program and a modified linear periodized program for maximizing muscular development. Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy is an invaluable resource for strength and conditioning professionals seeking to maximize hypertrophic gains and those searching for the most comprehensive, authoritative, and current research in the field.
2. Poliquin Principles – Charles Poliquin –one of the most groundbreaking books you can read on understanding the science of muscle building, sets, reps, tempo, frequency, volume and intensity and other variables. At the same time, legendary coach Poliquin describes in detail about each body part separately and how you can best target these parts for maximum development. Information has grown exponentially since The Poliquin Principles was first published in 1997.
There was valuable information in the original Poliquin Principles, but as information grew updated editions were needed. The book is revised now and is available in ebook format. The only issue may be with the supplemental protocol given at the later section of the book, as there has been quite a few discoveries in supplemental research and most supplements previously thought to be beneficial were found to be absolutely useless for sports performance, muscle building or fat loss.
3. Beyond Bodybuilding: Muscle and Strength Training Secrets for The Renaissance Man – Pavel Tsatsouline – what a brilliant book by legendary kettlebell coach Pavel Tsatsouline. This is a book which gives you a different perspective on understanding strength and muscle building . Pavel has spent his life immersed in the study and practice of practical strength training. as it applies in the very hard testing ground of both American and Soviet Spec ops, of the US Marines, SWAT, professional athletes, martial artists, gymnasts,powerlifters, weightlifters, Olympic champions and numerous other tough,tough competitors – where results are everything and failure is simply not on the menu. Pavel has, frankly, done the research for you. plundering both the classic and the little-known strength texts from past and present.
Networking and comparing notes with many of today’s great masters.Submitting his own body to the pain of infinite experiment. And Pavel has trained thousands of troops and police whose life might depend on his tips. hundreds of athletes and martial artists with the chance to achieve their dreams thanks to his advice. In Beyond Bodybuilding, you get the essence of most-all of the strategies, tips, routines and fine points Pavel has developed over many, many years for these elite men and women of the strength game.
4. The World’s Fittest Book – Ross Edgley – that’s quite a new book but nonetheless, one of the best books I have read. It’s not a muscle building book to be exact, neither can I call it a book for sports performance. But it’s an all in one book which packs a lot of punch.What is goes through is the journey of Ross Edgley who has attained superhuman feats in strength and endurance and what he learned from the top experts in various sports.
Packed with workouts the author tried and tested in the pursuit of multiple world records, it’s more than a book. Designed for anyone who wants to make permanent and lasting changes to their food and fitness, it is the first book to combine the teachings, tips and tricks of Olympic and World Champions into one, easy to follow resource.
This book will show you how it’s possible to:
- Live below 10% body fat with the aid of chocolate and Mayan secret
- Add 27% more muscle mass, courtesy of tips from world
heavyweight champions
- Increase speed by 10%, thanks to gold medal winning Olympic
sprinters
- Squat, deadlift and bench weights you never dreamed of lifting, with the guidance of the world’s strongest men
- Improve endurance capacity by 60%, thanks to the knowledge of
world champions in multi endurance-based sports
…all of which the author has achieved during the 10-year ‘Fitness Pilgrimage’ that has taken him around the globe.
Aiming to be the most eclectic and comprehensive fitness guide ever created, The World’s Fittest Book is the sum and substance of over a decade of research and the collective wisdom of some of the greatest minds and athletic bodies in history. By learning the lessons within it, readers will understand ‘fitness’better than the vast majority of the population. Every chapter will have an easy to digest workout within it and can be read individually. But if you want to read the stories and the science behind the routines, that’s there too.
Until now, there has not been a book covering such an ambitious range of areas, catering for the casual fitness enthusiast seeking clarity and guidance in their own gym routine and kitchen habits as well as the seasoned sportsperson who’s hit a plateau and is searching for tips, tricks and tweaks they can make to their training and diet. This book changes that, and will take you on a journey to whatever level of fitness you want to find.
5. The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer – John Little and Joanne and Sharkey – I have been a big Mike Mentzer fan. I won’t say that his training principles were correct or not, that’s a different debate. But what I loved about Mentzer was his love for extensive reading, philosophy, educating self and others, and his love for the sport. Reading about Mike, takes you into another world. How he linked art and science of bodybuilding with philosophy. Something well evident in his amazing artistic posing routines. He was a true master of his craft who loved the sport from all angles and literally breathed and lived it. For him bodybuilding was not a way of life, it was life. His passion was beyond words for his sport. More than any other bodybuilding writer or authority, Mike Mentzer single-handedly changed the way bodybuilders the world over have looked at exercise.
