05.18.2005:Schwarzenegger and Bill Dobbins Bodybuilding Encylopedia

Body basics

If working out is your hobby, it would do you some good to learn as much as you can about it. And who better to teach the sport than seven-time Mr Olympia, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Schwarzenegger: The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding is an exhaustive guide that has as much for the amateur as it does for the professional in the field. The “bible of bodybuilding”, as it has been billed, is the recently-updated version which packs in the old “classic” features as well as new methods and knowhow about training, competition techniques, diet and nutrition, treatment and prevention of injuries. The volume, around 800 pages with illustrative pictures, is divided into detailed sections and chapters, from the basics of how to get started to the preferred choice of trunks for advanced competitions. The bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-politician starts with the history and “evolution” of the sport, marking a shift in attitude from a means of survival to the “Greek ideal” of “muscular development as a celebration of the human body”. The book, written by Schwarzenegger with the help of Bill Dobbins, starts beginners off with how to select a gym — what to look for, who else uses it, gyms for non-competitors and training at home. The second section moves on to techniques, beginning warm-ups onwards. from.....thetelegraphCalcutta