Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder

"This will ring a few bells if you've ever done any fairly serious bodybuilding or weight training. I used to have a group of training partners and this was "the book" for us at the time. Even if your just curious it offers an interesting glimpse into what can seem like a parallel universe at times. It's about Sam, the authors, journey from being a skinny New York academic, to a competition winner in LA, and back again. He's afraid of the increasing violence on the New York streets and concludes that bodybuilding will make him impervious, it works for him but he then becomes totally hooked and goes off to LA to live the life.
There are lots of really funny bits like the description of the first "real" bodybuilders he meets in NY "disdainfully dropping their weights on the floor" after a set, (we all started to do it, and the floor got destroyed). Then his training partner in LA, who would strain so much that he had to put two "huggies" down the back of his baggies.
As Sam bulks up and progresses in his bodybuilding, it's surprisingly inspirational, although it isn't meant to be a motivational type book. The downside is that the story ends on quite a low when he packs it all up and returns to academia.
I had to order my copy from the States, if you can get it cheaply over here it's well worth a read. It could just make you want to go down to the gym."
~ Written on 2008-07-18