We've ranked the best bodybuilding books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
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I’ve given this book to people. [source]
I probably have recommended The Art of Learning and The 4-Hour Body, I'm not kidding, more than any other books. [source]
I get most of my information about nutrition from medical studies. I haven’t read any books about nutrition that I agree with 100%. These are a few nutrition related books that I’ve read recently that I thought were interesting: Eat to Live (Joel Fuhrman), Why We Get Fat (Gary Taubes), and The 4-Hour Body (Tim Ferriss). [source]
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I feel guilty for not having posted a review earlier: I owe a lot to this book. I figured out the value of intensity training and maximizing recovery. I use the ideas but with minor modifications (my own personal workout is entirely based on free weights and barbells, but I incur --and accept --a risk of injury). I have been applying the ideas for more than three years. Just get over the inhibitions (and illusions of control) and accept the idea of training less. Gratitude. [source]
@MikeIsaac Get this book. 12 mins a week... love it; it’s not the end-all but I’ve found these approaches better than regular gym https://t.co/s8KRF8luKs [source]
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10Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.
Recommended by Michael Gervais.One of the books I often give away is Mind Gym by Gary Mack. It’s a very mechanical, easy, lots-of-white-space-on-the-page book. And it’s one of my favourites, a very applied synopsis of mental skills from a sport and performance psychology standpoint. [source]
11 Recommended by Gabriel Coarnă, Irina Botnari, Michael Herrmann, and 1 others.Schwarzenegger's autobiography is, first and foremost, a really really great rags-to-riches story. But it's true. And it's surprising: he didn't make his first million dollars by acting. And it's inspiring: he goes a little into how one should think, when pursuing a particular goal. And, lastly, it's very well written. It'll completely redefine your idea of the man. And it may give you a glimpse into how you might better sculpt your idea of you. [source]
I’m definitely a story-lover and maybe that’s why I like to read a lot of biographies. It’s fascinating to discover how people with different backgrounds, interests, businesses, careers have found solutions for various challenges from all areas of their life. Elon Musk, Andre Agassi, Phil Knight, Maria Sharapova, Arnold Schwarzenegger are only a few of good recent ones. A specific moment when I recall one of the inspiring stories is probably when I think I can’t anymore. I take a deep breath and move on. It’s only in our mind. We can always do a little more. [source]
Schwarzenegger's autobiography. Very interesting as well. He's a true self-made man. [source]
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13Get Strong Like a Strongman, Yoked Like a Wrestler, and Lean Like a Calisthenics Athlete.Most training programs make you choose between strength, muscle, and conditioning.Sandbag Berserker is the path to earning all three.Here’s how it works:I. BUILD THE STRONGMANDevelop raw strength and dense, functional muscle with heavy sandbag lifting.Learn to lift, carry, and control awkward, uncooperative weight using movements that demand power from your entire body.II. BUILD THE WRESTLEREarn the durability, conditioning, and relentlessness of the wrestler.Through the rare attribute known as power-endurance, learn to produce force again and again, even as fatigue rises and your body begs you to stop.III. BUILD THE CALISTHENICS ATHLETEBecome lean, athletic, and agile with high-rep bodyweight training.Strip away fat and master relative strength so every pound of muscle you carry remains useful.Follow the path. Become Sandbag Berserker.Inside, you will learn to:Combine heavy sandbag lifting with high-rep bodyweight calisthenicsBuild power-endurance, the defining attribute of the BerserkerMaster the sandbag lap-to-chest lift to develop full-body power, muscle, and gritBattle through the thirty-minute trials of the Wolf, Bear, Mountain Lion, and ElkRise through the ranked standards from Sandbag Initiate to Sandbag Warlord
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24This is Kettlebell Simple & Sinister: Revised & Updated Edition or simply S&S 2.0.
Learn how to use the extreme hand-held gym from the man who started the kettlebell revolution.
Simple & Sinister will physically prepare you for almost anything life could throw at you, from carrying a piano upstairs or holding your own in a street fight.
Simple & Sinister will forge a fighter's physique because the form must follow the function.
- Simple & Sinister will give you the strength, the stamina, and the suppleness to play any sport recreationally and play it well.
- If you are a serious athlete, Simple & Sinister will serve as a perfect foundation for your sport-specific training.
- If you are a serious lifter, Simple & Sinister will build your strength, rather than interfere with it.
Simple & Sinister will achieve all of the above while leaving you plenty of time and energy to do your duty, your job, practice your sport, and have a life.
Russian kettlebell power to you!
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32A SPREADSHEET IS NOT THE TERRAINThe Tactical Barbell system has been battle tested by thousands of operational athletes around the world. It’s gotten candidates through elite military and law enforcement selections like SFAS, RASP, and ERT. TB practitioners run ultramarathons and win BJJ titles. Busy professionals, students, and entrepreneurs use it to get fitter than their peers in half the time and with half the hassle.Operational Athlete is a complete system upgrade - the culmination of 25 years in the trenches and over 10 years of public exposure. It consolidates, updates, and extends the foundational books Tactical Barbell I and II.Operational fitness isn’t just jogging and heavy lifting. It’s much, much, more. You need it all: strength, endurance, vertical conditioning, work capacity. Operational Athlete will show you how to get it all using structured training methods and simple progression models.After you get all the pieces - you’re going to learn how to put them together for your operational role. A patrol officer shouldn’t train like an infantryman, and an infantryman shouldn’t train like a SWAT operator.Anyone can do it all for a few weeks. The trick is to keep doing it forever. OA will serve your entire operational lifespan – from recruit right on up to your old retired-warhorse years. OA is a sustainable method of training that adapts to your changing circumstances.STRENGTH: Build muscle, power, and strength.CONDITIONING: Build an elite operational engine.INTEGRATION: Convert raw strength & conditioning into overall capability.PERIODIZATION: Create a custom plan with Strategic or Perpetual Periodization.OA PLANS: Use premade training plans by operational athlete type.ACTIVATION: A 25 week onboarding protocol for new TB practitioners.Operational Athlete is simple, concrete, and actionable. It will survive contact with the real world. Your world – the one that includes ops, shiftwork, fatigue, and the unpredictable.Results speak. Our bestselling programs are used by thousands of soldiers, law enforcement professionals, and first responders around the world.Come see why.
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39The fitness industry has made building muscle feel like rocket science. The truth is, it’s much simpler than you’ve been led to believe.Average to Jacked is for the person who wants to build an impressive physique without living like a bodybuilder.You want to build noticeable muscle, lose unnecessary body fat, fill out a T-shirt, see your abs for the first time and actually look like you work out. But you don’t want to train six days a week, spend hours in the gym, obsess over everything you eat, or make fitness your entire life.Maybe you’re brand new and have no clue where to start. Or maybe you’ve been working out for years but still don’t look the way you thought you would. Either way, you’re tired of conflicting advice and constantly wondering if you’re doing the right exercises, following the right program, or eating the right way.This book gives you a crystal clear path forward.I took more than a decade of training, research, mistakes, and trial and error and stripped it down to what actually matters—so you can build an impressive physique training just a few days per week and know exactly what to do when you walk into the gym.No matter your age, starting point, or equipment, the principles can be adapted to you—from a few dumbbells at home to a fully equipped commercial gym.Average To Jacked gives you the simple system to stop second-guessing, start making progress, and build a physique you’re proud of without building your entire life around fitness.
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59“You Are Not Built by Motivation. You Are Built by How You Respond to Your Choices and Challenges Every Day.”Getting older does not mean lowering your standards for the man you want to become. But after 50, good intentions and occasional bursts of motivation are not enough.Bill Parlaman learned that the hard way. At 265 pounds, he was a busy executive who had spent years putting his career, responsibilities, and other people ahead of his own health. Then a cancer diagnosis forced him to confront where those choices had taken him.What followed was not an overnight transformation or another short-lived diet. Bill began rebuilding his life one intentional choice at a time—until those choices became rituals, those rituals became standards, and those standards changed who he was.In Built By Rituals, Bill shares the philosophy behind his transformation along with 50 real-life rituals he uses to build a stronger body, a sharper mind, better relationships, and a life he is proud of.Inside, you will discover how to:Build a Stronger Body: Use practical training and movement rituals to become stronger, leaner, and more physically capable after 50.Eat With Greater Intention: Simplify nutrition, make better food choices, and stop relying on restrictive diets you cannot sustain.Strengthen Your Mindset: Raise your standards, keep promises to yourself, and build the discipline to follow through.Become a Better Leader: Bring greater intention, accountability, and consistency to the way you lead at work and in life.Strengthen What Matters Most: Become more present in your relationships and more intentional about the character and legacy you are building.This is not a rigid fitness program, another diet plan, or a demand that you overhaul your entire life. It is a practical book written by a man over 50 who practices these rituals every day.You do not need to adopt all 50. Find one that speaks to the man you want to become. Start there. Practice it. Make it yours. Then build from it.Intentional habits become daily rituals. Rituals become your standards. Your standards become your identity. And your identity determines your future.Built By Rituals will show you how small, intentional choices can help you keep raising your standards—and keep building the man you want to become after 50.Scroll up, click “Buy Now,” and start building your life one ritual at a time.
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74 Recommended by Annie Thorisdottir and Mat Fraser.I met Katrin during her first week of attending CrossFit classes, shortly after my first CrossFit Games championship...Her story is a reminder to fans and aspiring athletes that anyone can achieve greatness if they are willing to work hard enough. It’s also a testament to the power of Iceland’s Dottirs that makes my heart swell with pride. [source]
Katrin Davidsdottir is a fierce competitor with a great story. In the season leading up to my first CrossFit Games championship she was my primary training partner, and she pushed me to new levels of performance. That year I trained by myself mostly, but I would picture her there next to me and think, she wouldn’t be putting the bar down… she would be taking shorter breaks. But Kat wasn’t always fierce. She was forced to overcome huge setbacks. Instead of running from failure or accepting mediocrity, Katrin learned from her mistakes and worked even harder, both inside the gym on her fitness and outside of the gym on her mindset. Katrin became a champion by choice, and her story highlights what I believe above all things. That there is no magic pill. There are no superior genetics. There are no shortcuts. There is only hard work. And hard work pays off. [source]
78Lose weight, boost your energy and build strength sitting in a chair? I know how it sounds. But thousands of women over 50 are doing exactly that, and feeling years younger for it.Let's be honest for a second.You've caught your reflection lately and not quite recognized the woman looking back. The clothes you love stay on the hanger, and you reach for the baggy ones that hide things.And it's not like you haven't tried.The diet that left you hungry and exactly the same weight. The gym full of twenty-somethings. The video that had you on the floor wondering how you'd get back up.Somewhere along the way, someone told you this is just what happens after 50. That it's all downhill from here.That is a lie. And the problem was never you, it was the method.Those workouts were built for a young body that bounces back. Yours doesn't need punishing. It needs the right kind of movement.That's what chair tai chi is: a gentle, centuries-old practice you do sitting down, ten minutes a day.No pounding your knees, no getting down on the floor, no audience watching.And because it's so easy to keep doing, the weight comes off and stays off. So does the tiredness, the stiffness, the foggy afternoons.You move easier, sleep better, and feel years younger than the woman who started.Here's what's waiting inside:Simple chair tai chi workouts you can do during your favorite TV show, so the stubborn weight comes off without ever setting foot in a gym.Short morning and evening routines, so you wake with energy and sleep easily at night.A gentle strength and posture section, so you stand taller and feel steady, not fragile.Slow stretches for stiff hips, knees and shoulders, so you stop turning down plans because your body might not cooperate.A calming breath practice, so the stress snacking loosens its grip.A done-for-you 28-day plan, so you never wonder where to start and actually watch the scale move.A simple eating companion for women over 50, because real weight loss takes diet as much as movement, and you deserve the honest half the other books leave out.The quiet daily habits that secretly kill your progress without you noticing, and the simple keys to flip them into your favor.And to stack the odds even further in your favor:BONUS 1: A printable 28-day tracker, so every day is mapped out and your progress is there at a glance.BONUS 2: A full week of simple, protein-first recipes to go alongside your eating companion, so you always know exactly what to put on your plate.You don't need to become a different person. You just want to feel like you again. Lighter, stronger, a few years younger.You can start today, from the chair you're sitting in right now.Scroll up, click Buy Now, and let's get the old you back.
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