Monday, March 24, 2008

Ross Enamait Books

I mentioned on here, quite a while ago, that I had ordered the Ross Enamait books and DVD. Though I haven't actually used any of the materials yet, I have to say that I'm very impressed with them. Ross is in incredibly good shape, and got there with a minimal amount of equipment. I highly recommend all three of his current works.

Pros: Inexpensive, both the books and the plans. An equivalent amount of information on the "open market" could easily run into the hundreds of dollars. A great value. Information on conditioning, strength, strength-endurance, and everything in-between. This is especially valuable for boxers, wrestlers, Mixed-Martial Artists, or other martial artists (or people who want physiques like these guys). The layout is clearly home-made, but this generally works for the production rather than against it. All of the manuals are spiral-bound, which is nice, because it lays flat where you can refer to it quickly on the floor while you exercise. A lot of my paperback books are absolutely torn up because of this, but I can see that Ross' manuals are going to last. The DVD is also clearly home-made, but the production values are absolutely fine for the layout, and as usual, there's a ton of info presented. The DVD is over an hour long and comes with a 100 page manual that has fresh content, for $25 right now. Which is an awesome deal. There are plenty of ideas for people who want to "tweak" their programs, and a couple of different examples of overall programs too. So great balance there.

Cons: Some (very, very little) of the info is repetitive. Ross uses the phrase "spice things up" a few too many times. There's no color in the manuals(but color's not really needed). The only model is Ross!

Finally, I have to confess that I am still working through Pavel's challenge of 200 24kg snatches in 10 minutes and a 1/2 bodyweight military press, so I haven't tried Ross's programs. I can't report with a final rating until I've actually done it, so consider my 10/10 rating preliminary. If I were starting all over again with no equipment and no knowledge, Ross is where I would start. Highest recommendation.

Check this out: