The Complete Book of Pilates for Men: The Lifetime Plan for Strength, Power & Peak Performance

Official Body Control Pilates Manual: The Ultimate Guide to the Pilates Method - For Fitness, Health, Sport and at WorkI am a Personal Trainer so work professionally in the fitness industry, and would just like to scribe down a few thoughts on this book.First off, to comment on some of the negative reviews of the book (commenting on aggravating existing back injuries, etc.).It is true that even the "beginner" exercises listed in this book are relatively advanced - even for a regular exerciser, and most especially for someone of sedentary background and with limited mobility. It is also true, therefore, that a lot of these introductory movements need reasonable core strength to even attempt to execute correctly. Consequently a lot of the "beginner" movements are far too advanced for someone of sedentary background to attempt without some prior preparatory mat work.In summary: If you haven't been exercising much and/or are completely new to matwork/Pilates, I would strongly recommend you start off with something like Lynne Robinson's "Body Control Pilates Manual" which is much more progressive, very clear, starts at a level suitable for all and everyone, and provides an excellent foundation (the movements in the latter stages of the book are not easy!). Even if you consider yourself to have fairly a fairly "advanced" fitness level with good core strength (e.g. strong squat strength, easily hold a perfect plank for several minutes, etc., etc.), but new to Pilates exercises, I would still highly recommend that you work through this book first (especially in light of it's postural considerations).However, all of that considered, this is a superb book. First off, in its defense, it does list specific cautions/contraindications for each exercise - i.e. you have been warned! It is not the fault of the book, per se, if you attempt movements for which you are not ready...! Secondly, it provides a very complete training in Pilates through to a highly advanced level; realistically, even for athletes of very high fitness and good flexility, it will probably take several years, not months, of concerted consistent regular effort to master. Make no mistake: you may well be able to squat 2x your bodyweight below parallel, or run a 10K in sub 30 minutes, go rowing 6x a week or be an expert kickboxer or whatever - but the advanced movements in this book are very tough indeed! In other words you have something that will last! Thirdly, the drawings are very clear, the descriptions detailed and the book is nicely presented.In my view, buy the Lynne Robinson book listed above AND buy this book; as you work through to the latter stages of her book first, you can then start to work your way into this book.

Came quick and happy

No page numbers, no index. Too many exercises.

A great book and a great price just what I was looking for

At first I thought this book was great, it seemed very thorough and I could feel my core get stronger. I find the illustrations much better than cheesy photographs of someone in a leotard with a giant grin in every pose. The book is well laid out and has a good run down on what pilates is all about if you are new to it. The book was great to get me started and fuel my interest in pilates.But after a couple of months I began to develop hip pain, not wanting to give up I began one on one sessions with an instructor, which is where my opinion of the book began to change. Make no mistake, there is NO substitute for working with an experienced professional. For example, certain exercises that in the book seemed to be little more than a light stretch to me, when performed correctly under professional supervision are extremely challenging (at least for a beginner). And on the other hand some of the exercises depicted in the book are very advanced variations and way more taxing than what a beginner should be attempting.I'm a fit and active 30 year old and no stranger to exercise, but for something as involved as pilates it is essential that you attend classes. This is a very nice book, but without classes you will never get the full benefit of pilates, and may do yourself an injury.

I got this for my step dad for Christmas who does pilates already but due to his busy schedule he can't always make his classes. He started using it straight away over the Christmas period and really found it straightforward and not too difficult to follow the instructions. I'm not sure how different it is from normal pilates but he likes it!

If one follows the advice of the author, one will get access to the body-core, and this in turn is the basis for much healthy body-movement.I totally had forgotten this :-)

Extremely good book and great value in explaining from the beginning about pilates. The exercises are explained in full from beginner stage with pictures. I followed someone else's review that said the same that is what made me buy this book.

Il matwork non è solo il gioiello di Pilates, ma anche - purtroppo - il più impegnativo modo di praticarlo. Questo libro, con descrizioni dettagliate e disegni esplicativi, espande notevolmente il repertorio degli esercizi, soprattutto di livello intermedio / advanced. E' inoltre un validissimo supporto per ogni istruttore di matwork che desidera convertire alcuni degli esercizi classici del reformer anche per l'allenamento a corpo libero.Il libro non è solo "for men" ma per tutti coloro che vogliono raggiungere i livelli più alti del Pilates matwork!

Mil veces mejor que return to life. Este si debería ser un libro indispensable

Its great book!

THere are muck better books on Pilates.

Nachdem ja die Pilates Methode vielfach auslegbar ist und jeder Trainer so seinen eigenen Stil bevorzugt, fand ich die Idee dieses Buches recht einzigartig: Gezielt auf die Belange der Männer einzugehen. Zunächst war ich skeptisch, ob die Verständlichkeit aufgrund zuvieler englischer Fachbegriffe leidet, aber falsch: Durch die reichhaltige Illustration mit Bleistiftzeichnungen sind die Übungen sofort verständlich.