Myatt Murphy - The Mens Health Gym Bible Includes Hundreds of Exercises for Weightlifting and Cardio

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Portions of this book were previously published as The Mens Health Gym Bible by Rodale Inc. in October 2006.

Copyright 2006, 2017 Michael Mejia and Myatt Murphy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Book design by Christina Gaugler

Photographs by .
All other photographs by Mitch Mandel/Rodale Images.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN: 9781623368111 paperback
ISBN: 9781623368128 e-book

We inspire health, healing, happiness, and love in the world.
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When I was asked to cowrite the sequel to The Mens Health Home Workout Bible back in 2005, it was truly an honor. Michael and I felt the pressure to truly raise the barpardon the gymspeakand the fact that it has remained an important informational tool so many years later tells me that we managed to do exactly that. Which is why bringing this mainstay book up to speed through this updated second edition has been just as much of a privilege.

For us, that means we managed to create the perfect tool for guiding you through every gym, every piece of fitness equipment you might experience within a gym, every possible health club scenariobut most importantevery fitness goal you have today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life.

I want to thank every editor who hasin one way or anotherallowed me to deliver my take on exercise and fitness to millions of readers worldwide for so many years. Ive been blessed to write more than 1,000+ pieces for 50+ international magazines now and work with some of the best health, fitness, and nutrition editors in the magazine business. Hopefully, I havent left anyone off this listbut here goes: Rochelle Udell, Lucy Danziger, Gabrielle Studenmund, Stephen George, Bobby Lee, Mike Carlson, Carol Brooks, Pamela Miller, Jennifer Fields, Kimberly Papa, Laura Gilbert, Jeff Csatari, Rosie Amodio, Duane Swierczynski, Lara McGlashan, Ed Dwyer, Liz OBrian, Jennifer Walters, Trevor Thieme, Nicole Dorsey, Albert Baime, Alex Strauss, Beth Bischoff, Gordon Bass, Diane Hart, Stephanie Young, Lorie Parch, Meaghan Buchan, Rachel Crocker, Scott Quill, Phillip Rhodes, Steve Perrine, Nichele Hoskins, Mary Christ, Su Reid, Gail OConnor, Abigail Walch, Dana Points, Lisa Delany, David Kalmansohn, Jerry Kindela, Nina Willdorf, and Alison Ashton.

And, to the hundreds of personal trainers, exercise physiologists, nutritionists and sports psychologists Ive studied under, interviewed, trained withand ghostwritten forI want to say thank you as well. Its been a pleasure to work with nearly every top fitness professional in the business, and as I say in each and every book I writetheres no greater education than that.

I also want to thank everyone at Rodale who took our words and turned them into the book youre about to use for a lifetime, including Mark Weinstein, Franny Vignola, Christina Gaugler, Nancy Bailey, Sean Sabo, Mitch Mandel, Troy Schnyder, and Andy Speer.

Finally, thanks, Dad, for teaching me about exercise when I was young. If you hadnt shared everything that you knew about fitness with me, I never would have been able to share everything I know about fitness with the readers in this book.

Myatt

There sure are a lot of different expressions for the places were willing to pay to sweat, lift, and stretch in, arent there? All in the desperate pursuit to build up and chisel out the perfect physique. With so many names for some silly building we essentially shell out membership dues to use for exercise, its no wonder the whole process of choosingand usingany of the above is so difficult for so many people.

Deciding to make exercise a regular part of your lifestyle is a major step that takes a certain level of serious commitment on its own. Add joining a gym to that pictureand for the sake of consistency, well be using the term gym to refer to all of the above for the rest of this bookand you create a whole new level of confusion.

We know how you feel. A gymno matter what its size, location, or clientelecan be intimidating for so many reasons. Wading through the daunting and intentionally confusing contracts. Wondering if youre somehow breaking any of the unspoken rules of gym etiquette by saying or doing the wrong thing. Staring at rows and rows of exercise equipment you simply have no clue how to useor what they even do! Questioning if you should waste dough paying one of their personal trainers to show you.

The whole idea of a gym membership can leave you feeling as helpless as trying to invest in real estate or the stock market without knowing what youre doing. Just another thing you know could make a huge difference in your lifeif only you could figure out how to get the most from it.

Well, problem solved.

After all, thats why youre here, right? If youre reading this book, then either youre planning to start going to a gym or you already belong to one and want to get even more from the membership you have.

It doesnt matter in which of the two situations you find yourself. In fact, it doesnt even matter what your fitness goals arewhether you want to lose weight and burn fat, build strength, develop firmer, leaner muscles, improve your sports performance, or just turn back the clock by staying fit and healthy. It doesnt matter if youre male or female, young or old. We all want to avoid the same three things when it comes to joining a gym.

You dont want to look foolish or like an amateur.

You dont want to waste your money.

You dont want to fail at reaching your individual fitness goals.

We hear you loud and clear. Thats exactly why weve designed this bookto make sure that none of the above ever happens to you on our watchno matter what type of gym eventually becomes your gym.

Before you begin trying this guide on for size, it helps to know a few basic facts first.

According to recent research performed by the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) health club membership has grown by 22 percent from 2009 to 2015, with the total number of club visitors increasing by 24 percent. In fact, when the first edition of this book came out in 2006, there were 26,830 health clubs in the United States alone. Ten years later, that number has risen to more than 36,000. IHRSAs statistics have also shown that for over two decades, the total number of people belonging to gyms and health clubs in the United States has continued to rise by at least 1,000,000 every year.