Best for: Women interested in strength training who aren’t overwhelmed with a million (733, to be specific) options.

In a nutshell: Author Campbell provides an overview of lifting, a diet plan (boo), and chapters with body-part-specific target exercises.

Line that sticks with me:
“So whether you’re toting groceries or holding a baby, you’ll notice the difference.” Really, dude? Women use their arms for two things: shopping or children? Awesome.

Why I chose it: I’ve been consistent with my non-strength exercise for many years (running, elliptical, long walks), but haven’t really done much focused strength training in quite a while. Plus, I had a gift certificate to the shop where I found this one.

Review:
When I started this review, I planned to give the book three stars, but after considering it further, I’ve bumped it down to two.

There are components of it did like. There are workout plans, and there are detailed images. I’ve already tried one of the Back workouts (and learned that not only can I not do a chin-up, I can’t even jump to one and lower myself down) and the Quads / Calves. The latter was good. When I get back from a vacation I’m taking in a couple of weeks, I’m going to jump into the “Get Your Body Back” collection of exercises, because, as I said, I haven’t done strength training in awhile. So at the very basic level, this book is as advertised.

Now, let’s talk through what bothered me about this book.

First, every person in the book is TINY. Like, there is variety in ethnicity of the women showing the moves, but it seems as thought the person responsible for staging the photography thinks the only people who do strength training are a size 2-4 with no boobs. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that body type, but come one. There are strong women who are larger than Keira Knightly; perhaps a few of them could be featured?

Next, there are a probably too many exercise options. I fully get that I bought a book that is literally called the “Big Book of Exercises,” but there’s a difference between a dozen exercises per body area and over ninety. It’s just a lot, and it all blurs together. I think it’s possible it could have been better edited to not seem so overwhelming, but this version? Not so much.

Third, the sections on nutrition are pretty generic and a little blech. There’s even a part with a heading called “Why Diets Work.” The text below talks about why nutrition is a necessary component of changing your weight, but come on. Anyone who has read any studies knows that for the vast, vast majority of people, diets don’t do anything good, and often do very bad things. It’s disheartening to see that in a book ostensibly from a health magazine.

Fourth, the marketing of the book. The subtitle is “Four Weeks to a Leaner, Sexier, Healthier YOU!” Again, blech. I’m sexy as I am, thanks. Would it have been so hard to just replace those words with things like ‘stronger?’ Also, is it just me, or is the photo-shopping of the lovely cover woman just a bit too uncanny valley?

And finally, it bugged me that this book was written by a guy. I’m sure there are plenty of women out there who could compile a bunch of exercises, and I wish Women’s Health magazine would support those women. Also, at the end of many chapters are suggested workouts, which I appreciate, but again — full of guys. Seriously, I thought maybe I was misremembering, but I just flipped through and the one time a name stuck out that I thought might belong to a woman or non-binary person, nope. Still a dude. ( )

Silly title, great book. It has complete descriptions of all the exercises along with variations of every exercise to make it either easier to perform or more challenging, depending on your skill level and experience. Most of the exercises that called for large gym equipment can be easily adapted for an at-home workout with a quality set of exercise bands.

Along with the exercises are full instructions on how to design your own workout depending on your goals and experience level, and several personal trainer planned programs to get you started: an invaluable resource for those who are new to weight training.

The only reason I'm giving this book 4 1/2 stars instead of 5 is that it has a glued binding rather than a spiral one. A spiral binding would make it easier to leave the book open by your workout space when you need to refer to it to check your form on a new exercise.

The up-shot: if you're new to weight training or just looking for new exercises or training programs to keep your current workout from getting too boring, this is the book your looking for. ( )

An excellent collection of exercises that you can do at home, with or without equipment. A great resource from which to build fitness sessions that are specifically tailored. ( )

I'm not a sports person or big into exercise, but I want to get stronger, so I appreciate how this provides not just pictorial explanations of how to do strengthening exercises, but also explains how to modify your workouts to get the results you want (and avoid boredom) along with specific workouts for different fitness levels and interests, from sports training to quick 15-minute workouts to prenatal programs. There are certain things that I think I'd still want a real human to help me with before trying, but most of them seem like something I can do.

The nutrition and diet information contain pretty standard advice and reference which studies they pull their information from. Basically, it boils down to: get a good mix of protein, fat and vegetables; take it easy on the sugars, starches and dairy products; drink water.

I can't say I've been terribly diligent about my strength building attempts so far, but I feel more confident about my ability to do so and am able to do things I couldn't do a year ago. ( )