Ask Coach Poliquin

This huge compilation is billed as The Best Q&A Columns From Over Two Decades, and it’s an incredible collection of queries on everything strength, muscles and sports-training related.

As most IRON MAN readers know, Charles Poliquin is a legendary athletic coach, having trained numerous Olympic and pro athletes. He’s also very popular in the bodybuilding arena—and has quite a set of guns himself. That gives him the street cred he so rightfully deserves.

So what’s in this 266-page full-color book? Chapter 1 is Energy System Training, and he answers questions on everything from cardio and fat loss to interval training to VO2 levels in sports.

Chapter 2 covers equipment selection. Poliquin presents excellent info on many pieces, including the Gerard Trap Bar, Swiss balls and Body Blades. He also talks about how to develop rotational strength and the effectiveness of stretching devices.

Chapter 3 gives you more on fat loss, with discussions on protein, walking, specialized supplements—L-carnitine is a favorite—German Volume Training, bulking for bodybuilding, ab hardening and fat calipers.

I won’t describe every chapter, but you get the point. You get a lucky 13 of them, with Poliquin filling your brain with knowledge on injury prevention, loading parameters, lower-body training, muscle gain and male hormones, nutrition, sports training, supplements, upper-body training and women’s issues. Whew!

There’s so much here that you’ll refer to this tome again and again throughout your training career. It’s a solid reference from a coach who has answers on  the questions of how to get bigger, stronger and faster.

Whether you’re looking to build muscle, lose fat, get strong or perform better at your chosen sport, you’ll want a copy of this book.

—Steve Holman