For building strength, muscle, and health, I am often asked, “What is the best book?” Well, my answer is always the same: there is no single body-building book that stands above all others. All I can say is that every strength book in my large collection has contributed to my knowledge of physical culture, and each has helped me to come up with new ideas to better my training.

While many strength writers are authorities in their field, you should not take everything they say as universal truth. This is because you are the only person who can determine what type of training works best for you. So much depends upon your unique personality, interests, genetic disposition, and life style. However, by studying the works of various strength “experts,” you can greatly broaden your perspective of physical training and gain exposure to a wider variety of muscle-building ideas. These two benefits, in turn, can help you determine, through your own experiments and thought processes, how to adjust your own training program to achieve optimal results.

A strength book should be judged more so by how it stimulates your thinking than by whether or not you agree with all of the author's basic assertions. Sometimes, putting a unique twist on an idea you read can multiply its worth potential dramatically. This may true even if the original idea, in its pure form, is fundamentally not in line with your unique training requirements.

In summary, the strength book that you will benefit the most from is the one that triggers in your head a new and powerful thought. A new idea, one with your signature on it, can turn the wheels of your training progress like nothing else can. For this reason, you should never judge a strength book solely by its words. It is the quality and implementation of your thinking in relation to the book that really matters!

Happy reading, and keep in mind that if a training book helps you generate even one good idea, the true worth of the book may be many times over the purchase cost

Yours in strength and health,
Rob Drucker