Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder by Fussell, Samuel Wilson (1991) Hardcover

I 1st read this book in 2005/2006. Then gave it to a body builder friend and have been looking for another copy ever since!It is a great read, If you like bodybuilding and the whole gym scene.Funny, amusing and entertaining.

Muscle is one of my all-time favourite books - it is very interesting and very funny.The book tells the story of how Sam Fussell turns himself from a skinny young man into a body builder.The story begins in New York where Sam is a frightened young man working in publishing who develops an interest in bodybuilding. Interest rapidly turns to obsession as he starts to exercise more and more and pumps himself full of protein. Eventually the obsession becomes all consuming and he packs up and moves to California. In California he hooks up with more serious bodybuilders and the obsession grows. He follows an insane training program, supplemented by large-scale steroid use (abuse) in an attempt to compete as a bodybuilder and a power-lifter. Preparation for competition is even more demanding (It's not about feeling good; it's about looking good) as he attempts to shed all his body fat.The author writes with a wry yet sympathetic detachment from his obsession. The result is a portrait of obsession that is simultaneously amusing (often outright funny) and chilling (for example taking horse steroids - 'they give these to million dollar horses; they must be OK').A wonderful book - accessible to all but essential reading for anybody who has ever had even a small obsession with weights.