Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength

When you read a "diet" book, you should be motivated and think this is easy enough for me to do. This book did not disappoint. There were great healthy living tips and the information was broken down nicely. I would recommend this book and am pleased with my purchase.

I originally checked this book out of the library along with a few others in order to help me come up with some kind of a plan to get into shape. Once I started reading it though I could not put it down. I read the entire book in one night. It gave me everything I was looking for including plans for weight training, cardiovascular training, dieting, recipes, and more. It even came with a number of worksheets that let me track my progress. It is a great book. The day after I finished the book, I went out and bought a copy. It really does work.

What Bill says about eating properly and drinking water is very insightful, however, I find it hard to believe that anyone has the energy to push themselves for a "Level 10" experience 6 days a week. Don't get me wrong, pushing yourself both aerobically and muscle-wise is the right way to do it, but I'm a healthy 25 y/o and cannot do this more than 4 days per week. Doing 32 sets of weights for 5 different muscle groups in 46 min is not healthy. I did this for the first 3 weeks and suffered from a bout of exhaustion. I actually went to the doctor to get tested for mono! (which came back negative)
You need more than 1 day rest per week when lifting weights like that. The only way I can see anybody recovering that fast is if they sleep 12 hrs per day or they're on steroids (which Bill is an authority on, has written advice columns about, and has admitted to using).
If you read a bio about Bill Phillips and his rise to fame, you would see that he is a very vain, slick character who is always looking to make a quick buck (as evidenced in this book by constantly telling readers to buy his "MyoPlex" supplements).
To recap, I still follow the BFL plan as far as diet advice goes, but the frequency of exercise is not practical.

This book has a lot of good information and it is easy to understand. It is a good book for any level you are at. Beginners can easily read this and come up with diverse and safe exersizes to do.

Bill Phillips breaks down exercising to its basics. He clarifies many myths and teaches you about the right mindset, right eating habits, and right exercise routine you should follow.

I followed his program - kindof. I would say I followed it to 80% accuracy. Also I didn't buy the shakes recommended in this book, I bought another off the shelf protein shake. I felt more energetic and stronger than I have in a long time. Still, I think the expectations set by the pictures were a bit too optimistic. Don't buy and follow this book expecting to have such a dramatic change as many of the pictures would show, but do expect to lose fat, gain muscle, and feel much better inside and outside.

Enjoy.