Customer Rating:  
Summary: Basically worthless
Comment: First of all the title is a lie. This is not a book about power lifting. There are no power lifting routines other than one that involved all three power lifting exercises on the same day, and the author advises readers not to do it. Then why include it in the book Kelso?
There are several basic routines in this book, but no discussion whatsoever about exercise technique. This is dangerous considering the fact that it is the power lifts that have the most potential for injury because of the large amount of weight being lifted. Try to squat or deadlift with bad form and you could seriously injure your back. Try to bench press without a spotter or a power rack and you could end up dead.
Think I'm kidding, look for bench press accident videos on YouTube.
There is also no discussion of starting poundages, or when to increase the weight, or what to do if you can't complete the required sets and reps.
There is a chapter on nutrition that is basically, "Tex-Mex is the king of workout food" as well as an entire paragraph devoted to making good coffee. No I'm not joking.
Don't waste your time or your money on this book, better and more concise information can be found after 10 minutes on the internet.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Paul Kelso's right on the money!!
Comment: A gem of a book. It's an informative, entertaining story that backs up the basic premise of strength training. Lift HEAVY, rest, and do unto others. Very simple review, but it's a very simple book: in a GREAT way!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: It Was Ok
Comment: This book was defiantly an interesting read and a very unique one also.The language used was really quite different and at times made the storyline hard to understand.As for the workouts I would like to see why Kelso is Qualified to write a book in the first place.Some seemed ok and he had a few good tips but for the most part I don't know if he is all that good at making routines for serious powerlifters.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 5 stars, but be wary
Comment: One of my all time favorite books on weightlifting, and without question, the most entertaining. If you think of this book as a philosophy and older-brother type advice book, you will get a lot out of it. It is NOT a how to book. Don't buy it thinking it will tell you how to perform lifts. Get another book, DVD or have somebody teach you. But, if you are a beginner, it will probably save you a lot of time, energy and money searching for effective routines and sound advice. If you're intermediate, there is a ton to learn from this book. If you're advanced, you can still learn, and have a jolly time laughing while you recognize all the charecters in the book (and likely, yourself). As someone who grew up in the age of "what do you bench?" being the only measure of a man's strength, I once was one of the "3/4 of all ironheads who spend 3/4's of their time on the bench". The book in a nutshell: Why do you want to train? Train for that purpose using simple effective excercises in reasonably set up routines. Enjoy the ride, reach your max potential, and don't get caught up in how it compares to others potential. I wish I had known about this book when I started lifting at 18. If I had purchased this, instead of that Men's Workout, who knows what I could have done! It's a classic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: For the hardhead in all of us
Comment: Hopefully, Kelso's wisdom won't sail over the reader's head like a frisbie. This is a short, and very funny read, strongly imbued with East Texas culture. Through stories (partly truth and partly fiction) of his days as a teacher, with a powerlifting club (the Wampus Cats), Kelso imparts some fundamental and sound truths about lifting weights. He offers different routines that would benefit most lifters depending on their varying goals. Although he doesn't get much into the technique of the exercises (this isn't a book for rank beginners), most of the routines are fairly simple--which is part of their value (assuming you want to get strong, that is). All laughing aside, Kelso obviously knows a few things about weightlifting. Along the way, he skewers a lot of goofy ideas--most deriving from the bodybuilding world. All in all, a very enjoyable book.
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