Essential Strength Books
These are the books that have changed the life of my training career, in all of its various phases. For the books I have reviewed on World’s Strongest Librarian, the links below go to the reviews I’ve written. The books can be purchased from within those reviews. Other links go to Amazon or the various author’s websites.
To the best of my knowledge, I have linked to the cheapest price I can find for each item.
- Beyond Bodybuilding by Pavel Tsatsouline
- Beyond Brawn by Stuart McRoberts
- Brother Iron, Sister Steel by Dave Draper
- Card Tearing E-Book by Jedd Johnson
- Convict Conditioning by Paul “Coach” Wade
- Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik (available through Brook’s website)
- Enter The Kettlebell! by Pavel Tsatsouline
- Never Let Go by Dan John
- Power To The People by Pavel Tsatsouline
- Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
- Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier
- Super Joints by Pavel Tsatsouline
- The Art Of Expressing The Human Body by Bruce Lee
- The Bending Manual by “Napalm” Jedd Johnson (for would-be steel benders!)
- The Grip Master’s Manual by John Brookfield
- The Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline
- The Purposeful Primitive by Marty Gallagher
- Viking Warrior Conditioning by Kenneth Jay
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad there is this resource of training books here. Would you consider linking the other books you have recommended here or is that too off brand/message?
Casey, I’ll be putting in a store of my favorite books, as in non-sports books.
Josh,
What do you recommend reading first?
Thanks,
Jose
What are your goals, Jose? What kind of training do you enjoy?
I don’t do anything! I used to enjoy weightlifting years ago. I got lazy and got soft when the wife and kids came. My goal really is to get strong, get lean and live longer. I don’t really enjoy walking (yawn…) or jogging for that matter (boring!). I don’t know what I would enjoy. I’m open to trying new things but want to find something that helps with focus. Any ideas?
This is personally the only way I train anymore. http://www.grip-rip.com/?AFFID=29925
I was involved in the workshop where this was filmed and it was the most wonderful training experience of my life. It can be applied to any goal.
But as to these books up here, I’d recommend starting with either Beyond Brawn or Never Let Go. They will both get you fired up to go do something and have some great practical training advice and philosophy.
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ll look into this and get back to you.
Love your choices … I own most of them. However, I think John McCallum’s “The Complete Keys to Progress” deserves a place in this list. Edited by Randall Strossen it is the accumulated articles that McCallum published in Strength and Health Magazine in the Sixties and early Seventies. This is not a plug. I am also a strength-training librarian and as a bibliophile I feel this book needs a mention … also Mark Rippetoe’s “Starting Strength” but I don’t want to get carried away…
Hi Brent. I have heard so much about mccallum’s book but I’m embarrassed to says I’ve never read it! I’m going to fix that. Don’t worry about plugs. Please drop any time with anything you think is worth reading.
On that note then … try Strongman by Tom Thurston. Its a biography of Doug Hepburn by Tom Thurston written in the style of an autobiography. Thurston was due to ghost write the autobiography but unfortunately Mr Hepburn died during the process. Brilliant book with great insights into the mind and process of the “World’s Strongest Man” and a brilliant set of appendices in the back with a series of Doug Hepburn’s programs that are (in my mind) just as valid today as they ever were … but I am a traditionalist at heart.