Book Review: Serious Strength Training 3rd Ed. - Tudor Bompa et al

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by SWC Sifu Ben, Jan 2, 2015.

  1. SWC Sifu Ben

    SWC Sifu Ben I am the law

    Serious Strength Training-3rd Edition Paperback by Tudor Bompa, Mauro Di Pasquale, Lorenzo Cornacchia

    Preface: I have no connection with any of the authors, the publishing company, or any relation to this book whatsoever other than personal ownership of a copy. All opinions in this review are my own and should be treated as such.

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    The book is well organized into sections on physiology, periodizing the year, diet, explanation of the different periods, exercise explanations, and templates for the individual periods themselves.

    The Good

    Annual Periodizing
    The book thoroughly explains the application of Bompa's system to bodybuilding and strength training. The book gives examples of annual plans one could follow and with the explanation given and some examination of the templates a trainee can figure out how to design their own annual plan based on their goals. The annual templates vary with the experience of the lifter and there are even annual periodization plans for busy people who often get pulled off track from their workouts.

    The workout year is divided into periods:
    AA - Anatomical Adaptation
    For prepping your body after a long T phase. Essentially a type of circuit training
    H - Hypertrophy
    Growing muscle size. Moderate weight with a moderate set/rep scheme seemingly designed for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
    M - Mixed training
    A mix of H and MxS training
    MxS - Maximum strength training
    Heavier loads and lower reps. Seemingly designed for myofibrillar hypertrophy. The book outlines the goal as inducing chronic hypertrohpy and overall strength gains.
    MD - Muscular definition
    High rep work based on the outdated idea that low weight/high rep work will build better muscular definition. It also includes a handy pre-contest bit for those interested i nbodybuilding
    T - Transition
    Week(s) off between other periods to allow the body to recouperate.

    The loads in each of these periods are based from a percentage of the athlete's 1RM (one rep max). For someone starting out testing their one rep max may be dangerous but guessing could be equally detrimental. For this reason I think it would be better for someone who has no lifting experience to do something like Starting Strength (which has a linear loading pattern) until their technique and strength are good enough to bother with a 1RM test.

    Loading Schemes
    The book explains different macrocycle/microcycle loading patterns for different levels of athlete. This is probably this first book I've read which actually went into a good degree of detail on this subject.

    Period Templates
    The exercises selected for the different periods cover a sufficient range for general bodybuilding/strength development. The book tends to shy away from heavy free-weight exercises which I would consider vital (squats, deadlifts, etc) in favour of things like the leg press and cable rows but these can be easily switched out keeping the same loading pattern.

    These give a good understanding of the set/rep progressions used in the program for different bodyparts and either a way to create your own customized periods or simply a program to follow.

    Two of the exercises favoured heavily in the templates (they are in every one except MD and T) are leg curls and calf raises as the authors feel they are vital for sport performance and often undertrained.)

    Questionable sections
    The section on muscle physiology is a good intro and with regular use of the book I've come to realize its true and eventual purpose; a substitute cover to protect the inner pages. Otherwise it simply adds unnecessary weight to the book.

    The diet section expounds the value of the ketogenic diet: high fat, low carb, sufficient protein. I tried this out for about 6 months but noticed no significant change in fatigue levels or lifting progress. The rest of the diet section of fairly useful for novice trainees but the internet has a wealth of information on this which may suit your lifestyle better.

    The exercise demo section is a little lacking. There are a limited number of exercises shown but that can't really be faulted. Even larger books like The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding are lacking compared to the internet. Still if this was all you had it wouldn't be bad per se and with certain exercises I think it's meant to show the specific variation the authors prefer.

    The supplements section gives some helpful basic tips but yet again for more advanced lifters ten minutes on Google will serve you better.

    My Experience
    To test the progressions in the book I followed one of the 6 week Hypertrophy periods followed with a 3 week Transition phase. Through the early part of the period there was no significant fatigue. Toward the end of the period every lift was just about as difficult as it needed to be. I couldn't lift much more (weight or reps) but I wouldn't have wanted to lift less. My next 1RM test my lifts had increased and I was certainly less fatigued throughout the period than I have been with other exercise plans.

    Summary/TLDR
    This book gives a fairly thorough explanation on how to construct programs throughout the year and makes a great template for lifters to design their own. The period I tested definitely worked but beginners would be better off with something simpler until their technique and lifts improve enough that they can safely test their 1RM.

    All in all I think if I'd had this book when I started lifting I'd be much farther in my strength training than I am now. I'd say it's a must read and definitely worth the $15-$20 or so that you'll pay for it. I certainly plan to use more of the concepts from this book in my own strength training.
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2015
  2. Kframe

    Kframe Valued Member

    What does the book use in replacement of squats and dead lifts? Those work other important muscles then just the legs.
     
  3. espide

    espide New Member

    Good question, I was thinking of picking up a copy of this. I definitely need to build some muscle and strength in my legs and back.

    Did you read the book?
     
  4. icefield

    icefield Valued Member

    if you want to design a strength block you can do worse than listen to this guy

    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBIInwyXIfA"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBIInwyXIfA[/ame]

    want to build size he is worth listening to as well
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqF8EoDMSGo"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqF8EoDMSGo[/ame]
     
  5. SWC Sifu Ben

    SWC Sifu Ben I am the law

    It tends toward things like leg press and lunges in place of the squat, or back extensions in place of deadlifts but it depends on the block in question. For the AA block for instance it's all isolation movements (which I don't like) but you can basically just swap out exercises and copy the set/rep/weight progression from one of the other exercises if you want to go the simple route. There's also an explanation of why the rep ranges are what they are in the book for certain muscle groups and in certain blocks and it's pretty simple to understand how to set up the set/rep/weight progression for each yourself.

    The videos icefield posted explain block design pretty well.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2016

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