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Title: Muscle : Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder by Samuel W. Fussell ISBN: 0-380-71763-8 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 (56 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fascinating!
Comment: I truly enjoyed Fussell's autobiographical account of how he took himself from a scrawny beanpole to a huge, ripped builder. I found the book so fascinating that I basically read it in one long sitting, and was disappointed when it was all over. Some of the antics in the book are very funny and others infuriating, but all of it is entertaining.
I do think Fussell paints an accurate picture of the bodybuilding scene, so I can find no fault with his writing. But as for the man himself, I just wanted to reach through the pages and shake the guy. Weight training can be a healthy, rewarding activity that can fit into one's overall lifestyle without dominating it. By the end of the book, you get the impression that anyone who lifts weights can have no life outside of his or her training, and I can tell you from experience that that's simply not true. For one thing, Fussell's training which consisted of 2 sessions for a total of 4 hours per day is, for most people, counterproductive at best, and just plain disastrous at worst. It's no wonder that he resorted to using steroids to make his training work--otherwise he'd have had no hope to progress. He could have trained twice per week, and gotten as good as or better results. Personally I've done a full body routine every 5 days and made my best gains. So weight training need not take over your whole life. Fussell's training was also an example of an unhealthy lifestyle in that he did not cardiovascular training to speak of, and had no social life outside of his weightlifting peers. It's no wonder that he had to leave the bodybuilding lifestyle behind. But Fussell's all-or-nothing thinking isn't necessary for most people. If Fussell had looked at weight training as part of an overall healthy lifestyle, rather than a retreat from the real world, he'd probably still be training today and would have a balanced life.
Overall, this book shows how barren and depressing any hobby or lifestyle can be when taken to the point of obsession. It's not just weight training that this applies to. One could be equally consumed with collecting stamps or astronomy, and it would also be unhealthy. I look at this book as a cautionary tale that applies to all aspects of life, not just weight training.
Rating: 4
Summary: Mostly a fun romp through the world of bodybuilding
Comment: This is a pretty entertaining read about a skinny, bookish, 20-something who transforms himself into a body builder. This autobiographical story takes place over the course of about a year as Fussell describes the transformation he makes and journeys from New York to Southern California in his quest to become a great body builder. The insights and largely self-depreciating comments on this transmation make it unique. Along the way, we meet all sorts of colorful characters, who will go to tremendous lengths for the slightest improvement in their physiques. Fussell realizes he is becoming one of them, and it is this final realization that leads to the book's conclusion.
Fussell says a lot about the bodybuilding industry and about weight lifting, but it really its a book about people chaisng bodybuilding dream, and why they do it.
What prevents me from giving it 5 stars is that Fussell seems to omit certain details and one suspects at times he is either embellishing the details, or isn't totally forthcoming with what actually happens. A romance with a female body builder starts, somewhat awkwardly, and then is quickly forgotten. If it really was so insignificant, you wonder why it was brought up in the first place.
But there is certainly enough insight into what drives people to develop their bodies beyond all reason and enough entertainment value in the storytelling to make it a good read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Weight lifters/anyone interested in fitness? Buy this book.
Comment: If you have ever lifted weights and thought you were a SERIOUS LIFTER, you need to read this book. Muscle, by Samuel Wilson Fussell, is remarkable. Fussell, a graduate of Oxford, began lifting weights because he..........
Well, that is part of the story. I will not spoil it for you. Fussell did not just train with weights. He went nuts with weights. He also freely admits that he went nuts with steroids and supplements.
FOOTNOTE: Fussell makes himself transparent and vulnerable in this book. He hides nothing. That really appeals to me as a reader.
A quote from the book: To do "the right thing" means: "After his knee wrap, his walk, his talk, his ammonia intake, and his belt ritual, I nailed him twice with a closed fist and clean shots to the face. The result was a bloody nose, a black eye, and a successful lift."
Another: "Or I was back in the bunker [where he lived with other serious lifters], gobbling my daily multivitamin packets. I took 6,666 percent of the daily minimum requirement of vitamin B2, 1,333 percent of E, 1,000 percent of C, and so on."
In short, the book is a scream. But it is also a warning about the risks of using steroids and putting one's body what Fussell put his through. Again, Fussell hides nothing. He tells the reader: (1)how vicious his workouts were, (2)the incredible amount of steroids he took, (3)his 'roid rage (steroid rage), (4)his almost unbelievable diet to enter the 2 body-building events he entered, and (5)how he felt about the entire order.
Buy Fussell's book and read it. You'll laugh. A lot. You will not be disappointed, and, as they say, "Truth [really] is stranger than fiction." Fussell could not have made this story up. It is too incredible; too outlandish; too bizarre to be a work of fiction.
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Title: Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender Construction (Suny Series on Sport, Culture, and Social Relations) by Alan M. Klein ISBN: 0791415600 Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Gorilla Suit : My Adventures in Body Building by Bob Paris ISBN: 0312194587 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: 15 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title:Pumping Iron - The 25th Anniversary Special Edition ASIN: B0000C3I6U Publisher: Warner Home Video Pub. Date: 11 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $14.99 |
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Title: Chemical Pink : A Novel of Obsession by Katie Arnoldi ISBN: 0312878915 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 06 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the Manly Culture of York Barbell by John D. Fair ISBN: 0271018550 Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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