Recommended fitness introductory books for beginners

There are only three core books worth buying - "Basics of Strength Training" by Mark Ribito, "Atlas of Sports Anatomy (3rd Edition)" by People's Sports Publishing House, and "The Complete Book of Fitness and Nutrition" by Von Akers. The rest of the internet celebrity fitness books and quick-effect body shaping guides are basically IQ taxes, and you can buy them or not.

When I first went to college and wanted to lose weight, I bought random books. There were a bunch of booklets with waistcoat lines and peach butts printed on the covers. After turning two pages, they were full of nonsense about "losing 10 pounds in 7 days" and "building right-angled shoulders in a week." After practicing for half a month, my knees hurt and I couldn't even walk down the stairs. Jin, I went to the hospital to check for chondromalacia of the patella, only to find out that the movements in those books didn’t even mention the basic common sense of “squatting without knees over toes”. Later, a veteran at the gym who had practiced for 10 years recommended the above three books to me, and I really got started.

Let's talk about "Basics of Strength Training" first. Many girls who are just getting started and want to get in shape will throw it aside after turning two pages. They feel that it is all about bench presses, deadlifts, squats and other power lifting items. There is no mention of how to slim down the waist or how to build up the buttocks. It is too hardcore and not suitable for ordinary people. I also agree with this. The author Ribito himself is a veteran powerlifting coach. The logic of the entire book is centered on "how to increase maximum strength." It does not cover the shaping needs of ordinary enthusiasts, but you can pick it up and read it without reading the whole book. Just look at the dismantling of the first half of the movements: how to bend the hips first and then the knees in the squat, how to keep the spine neutral in the deadlift without slumping the waist, and how to sink the shoulders in the bench press without shrugging. The underlying logic is the same. Regardless of whether you want to gain strength or get in shape, if the movements are wrong, no matter what you do, it will be useless. I always had backache when doing deadlifts, so I adjusted my stance and leaning angle three times in front of the actual pictures in the book and in the mirror. The problem was immediately cured, and the instructions were clearer than the 10-session personal training course I signed up for that cost 2,000 yuan.

After you understand the movements, you will definitely encounter the problem of "it hurts when you practice". Sometimes you can't tell whether it is normal delayed onset muscle soreness or the pain of joint grinding. At this time, don't frighten yourself by searching Baidu blindly, just turn to "Atlas of Sports Anatomy". Many people say that this book is a medical school textbook. It is full of schematic diagrams of skeletal muscles. It is so boring that it is impossible to read it. Who asked you to memorize the entire book? I always turn before doing any exercises. Today, if I want to do shoulder exercises, I first turn to the page of the rotator cuff muscles. If I look at the origin and end points of the muscles, I will naturally know why the lateral raise cannot be raised above the shoulders - otherwise it will get stuck on the acromion, and it is easy to cause acromion impingement after practicing for a long time. I always had a popping sound in my shoulder when I was practicing before. After reading the book, I found out that I was too deliberate in lowering my shoulder and pulled the humerus down too hard and it got stuck in the joint cavity. After I adjusted it, it was fine immediately. Now I just stuff this book into my gym bag and read it for two minutes before practicing. It is much more reliable than reading 10 short videos from half-baked bloggers.

When you can practice regularly for a month and your movements are basically correct, it’s time to think about eating. Don’t listen to those Internet celebrities who say that “you can lose weight by lying down if you eat right” is pure nonsense, but it’s true that if you eat wrong, you won’t see any results even if you practice for half a year. At this time, “The Complete Book of Fitness and Nutrition” is completely sufficient. Some people also complain that this book is too academic. The macronutrient ratios and basal metabolism calculations are accurate to grams. Ordinary enthusiasts have no need to calculate in such detail. I wholeheartedly agree with this. You don’t need to use a food scale to weigh every day when cooking, just choose the content that is relevant to you: for example, you cannot completely cut off carbon when losing weight, otherwise your aunt will easily run away. ； When building muscle, you need to eat at least 1.6g of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you don’t eat enough, you won’t be able to build muscle no matter how much you practice. ； And why is it not recommended to go on an extreme diet to lose weight - because most of what is lost is muscle, and the rebound is so fast that you will doubt your life. I have been through the pit of carbon cutting before. I lost 7 kilograms in half a month. I couldn't even climb three floors without breathing. My aunt postponed it for more than ten days. Later, I adjusted my diet according to this book and added a fistful of multi-grain rice every day. Although I lost weight slowly and only lost 3 kilograms in a month, I haven't rebounded in half a year and my energy level has improved a lot.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that these three books are the only ones. The list of books has always been based on demand. If you don’t like to play iron at all, but just want to practice yoga to relax your stiff shoulders and neck after sitting for a long time, then Iyengar’s "Light of Yoga" is better than anything else.； If you like running and want to prepare for a half marathon, then the "Running Bible" is completely sufficient. There is no need to follow other people's book list and buy it. It will be a waste of money.

Oh, by the way, one last thing to say, it doesn’t matter how many books you buy, you have to move. I met a friend before who bought a cabinet of fitness books and studied movement techniques and diet ratios at home every day. After studying for half a year, his body fat rate has not dropped at all, his rounded shoulders and hunchback have not improved, and he has not even entered the gym. What's the use? In the final analysis, when it comes to fitness, practicality comes first. Books are just tools to help you avoid pitfalls. No magic book can save you if you just lie down and read the book list.