Customer Reviews
In a word: Essential - By: Dr. S. T. Walker, 24 Oct 2008 
As the review title says, this is an essential reference tome for any bodybuilder's bookshelf. Unlike most other bodybuilding books, this one doesn't feature photographs of famous people, with physiques the typical reader is unlikely to ever achieve, competing at this-or-that competition. Nor are there are suggestions for workout routines, nutrition etc.
Therein lies much of its appeal. Delavier instead gives us detailed anatomical drawings, much like you might find in a medical textbook, & I imagine this broadens its appeal to include those sports people who view weight training as an adjunct to their other training rather than as an end in itself. Additionallly, there are a number of sections dealing with particular (one assumes commonly occuring) injuries, which make for interesting reading.
Admittedly, there are a number of exercises I'd like to have seen included in the book, & a few I don't think warrant inclusion, but I'm still unreservedly giving it five stars as I find it a unique publication for this field.
==Lots of Strengths== - By: a reviewer, 17 Sep 2008 With over 450,000 copies sold, this book is arguably the best book of its kind. What's it useful for? Mainly to help the reader (from the weekend athlete to the athletic trainer to the professional bodybuilder) figure out what exercises work what muscles.
It's neatly divided up into sections (arms, shoulders, chest, back, etc.), so alll you reallly have to do is flip to one of these sections & it will have detailed pictures of various exercises & exactly which muscles are involved.
A great reference to keep have around, I give it five stars easy. Readers who lift weights regularly might also be interested Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff to avoid shoulder problems a lot of lifters eventuallly get.
Excellent!!! - By: Boobie, 24 Aug 2008 This book reallly is as good as they say. The illustrations are superb & make it a worthwhile read just to appreciate the anatomy of the human body, but more importantly of course to understand what happens to which muscles during strength training.
The little sections explaining common injuries & how to avoid them are also a great benefit.
Highly recommended.
A great reference - By: M. Bach, 04 Aug 2008 
Strength Training Anatomy is set out in a style that is very easy to read, each chapter detailing a new body part & within it a detailed list of some of the more popular exercises & how to perform them. By saying popular, I reallly mean the more traditional exercises using fixed resistance machines, dumbells & barbells. My POV is that it is very much old school - you can tell that by the illustrations of the guy in the 80's striped bodybuilding pants. If you are looking for educational material on functional strength & core strength which is very much in vogue & correctly so, then this book is not perhaps what you are looking for. Instead I would highly recommend this book as a text book & point of reference for alll practitioners that prescribe exercise routines & those that are learnig about the anatomy of the skeletal & muscular systems. Other interested exercise enthusiasts will get a great foundation knowledge on the traditional exercises to learn.
Fantastic! - By: P. Cookson, 07 Jul 2008 I've had this for over a year, I bought it after reading reviews on Amazon. I continue refer to this book time after time! My mate spent so much time looking at my copy that he had to get his own copy in the end! Not reallly sure how they could improve on this book...maybe add some nutritional info, but that's not reallly what this book is about. Whether building muscle, toning, or just keeping fit, this book covers the muscle biology of alll the muscle groups in fantastic detail. You wont look at the human body in the same way again! Buy it, you wont regret it!
