Anatomy of Exercise: A Trainer's Inside Guide to Your Workout

For more than seven decades my passion for the combat arts and physical fitness (Judo, Jujitsu, Karate-Do, Boxing, MMA, Defensive Tactics, Stick Fighting, Kenjutsu, Circuit programs, Institute for Aerobics Research training, Military/SEAL routines, Weight training, HIIT, and Tactical Aerobics) programs has always been strong. Even though I have taken numerous fitness instructor courses and read hundreds of books on these subjects I still seek out more knowledge on these topics. When I saw this oversize 192 page soft cover book (Anatomy of Exercise: A trainer's guide to your workout by Pat Manocchia) on Amazon for a bargain price I purchased it.This fantastic beautiful full color illustrated book is one of the best books I have ever had the pleasure to read over the years. This book shows both clear photographs combined with superb drawings demonstrating each of the exercises. Each detail of the specific movement is explained and with the illustrations it provides a clear picture of the exercise movements and what muscles are involved.This excellent book covers the following areas: Full body anatomy, warm-ups, stretching, legs and hips, back, chest, shoulders, arms, and core. Each section shows a wider variety of exercises for each body part. There is also a helpful index and glossary section in this book.This is the kind of book both trainers and exercise enthusiasts can benefit from reading and having as a superb reference sources for doing exercises correctly.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical Principles of the most effective Combative Systems).

Great pictures, lots of detail. I love understanding the more clinical side of things. I don't want to just know that doing one thing will make this outcome. I want to know why and what body part it is, and where and what it is in relation to other body parts. Great if you are super curious, and even more so if you are learning about anatomy to help other people with their exercise needs. Enough information to provide a bit of an education but not so inundated with clinical terms that you feel like you are reading a text book. Good one for the personal library.

This book illustrates a great many exercises that involve the all sections of the body and how they affect each muscle that is being exercised. This is important to understand whether you are exercising or you are explaing exercises to others. It is much easier to understand how to effect the whole body through groups of exercises. Thus for example 10 exercises could be chosen that would then affect each muscle group so that a thorough workout is achieved. Also the exercises shown include a wide variety of tools, such as use of weights, stability balls, and calisthentics/pilates types of exercises. Still another book would be needed to indicate technique, suggested length of workouts, how often per week to do the exercises, breathing techniques etc. The purpose of this book is to demonstate the muscles being used in each exercise. It serves that purpose very well in indicating the muscles being used in color drawings and in actual photographs of people doing the exercises. It is a very good book for learning the muscles and how they work together in each exercise.

I just got this book and have only gone through the pages with minimal scrutiny. I gave this book a 4 because it had about 90% of what I was looking for and some minor concerns about the anatomical renderings which I discuss below. It shows the exercise with a picture both with and without the muscle groups that will be engaged.It categorizes chapters by body parts such as Shoulders, back, etc, and has descriptions of how to prepare for, and complete the exercise motions properly, what to look for in doing it right and also what to avoid. It shows the muscle groups, both at the front in their entirety, and on each exercise page.I would have like a little more variety in the mix of exercises and they go back and forth across the exercise examples using the male and female anatomies for different exercises which was a little confusing. I could not tell if their intention was implying the exercise was more suited for the gender represented, or if they were just trying to give equal time.As an observation, some of the pictures showing musculature for the female anatomy were more graphic in representing the female breast than I thought was appropriate for representing the exercise, which I thought was odd. It did not show the muscles, it showed the details of a bare breast, which as a parent, concerns me that some disclosure about age appropriateness might be in order.The pictures were renderings not actual humans but the effect would be the same especially for a pubescent male.So I would highly recommend this book for its content, BUT would also recommend if it will be used by anyone under 14, you might want to consider a different product.

Great illustration

Although English isn't my mother language, the book resulted very good for my purposses.Very usefull for people who are in the sportive area

I love the format these books have and that they raise awareness of the muscle groups I should be focusing on during any given exercise. I purchased a number of books in this series, and I find I haven't used this one as much as the others. Perhaps it is because the books do have overlap, but I also find the exercises in this book use more props I don't have, balance balls, steps, benches, etc. I also don't care for the female illustrations. Overall, I feel the other books in the series have more flexibility in their application, give just as much useful insight, and have illustrations that do the job without being unnecessarily graphic.

Learned a ton and the descriptions are very easy to understand. The illustrations help as well with understanding the concepts that are being explained.