cool book

My son is almost 12 and is very interested in weight lifting in order to further his competency in his chosen sport, soccer. We have been looking for a good book for him for a while now and I believe I have found the best book for teenagers. He found the new Mario Lopez book at the library and saw the picture of the great big hulking Mario (sorry Mario but every time I think of you I see you in "Saved By The Bell") . Anyways, I think that the Lopez book is a very well written book. It is very descriptive and has good pictures and good recipes. BUT, it is not a very good book for a preteen. Jeff looks at the book and thinks that within a few months of beginning to workout he will look like Mario Lopez! (don't we all have some sort of delusion that we will see awesome results after working out for a few weeks and when we don't see miracles we think we are failures and then head for the tub of ice cream???)

But let's face it, an almost 12 year old boy has as much chance of looking like Mario Lopez as I do of becoming a high wire acrobat. Neither are very likely. Now in 6 years, Jeff may be able to look as toned as Lopez, but that won't be for a while.

Anyways, as to the book I found. Weight Training by Gustav Mark Gedatus. This is a very good book with a lot of advice for a young teen starting an exercise routine. It teaches a teen how to develop their routine by showing them the right questions they need to ask. It shows them how to set appropriate goals and tells them of some of the dangers (and stupidity) of drugs or supplements. It teaches them how to talk to an adult about what they want to get from their workout and also that they need a TRAINED adult to help show them proper form with weights. It emphasises the importance of warm up and diet and keeping records and setting appropriate goals (heck the more I think about this book the more I think it is good for ANYONE setting out on a workout journey!!)

We got this book from the library. I read it and now Jeff is reading it and answering all the "introspective" quizes so that we can develop his routine. He has decided he wants to go to college on a soccer scholarship so he has been buggin me about this for several months now. The boy is in 5th grade!