Books give the lowdown on stretching muscles

Published 5:00 am Thursday, July 3, 2008

So, exactly what are your muscles doing while you are exercising?

Which muscles do you use when you do a hanging leg raise? Or a bicep curl? Or a bench press?

Two new books, “Anatomy of Exercise” by Pat Manocchia (Firefly Books, $35) and “Anatomy for Strength and Fitness Training for Women” by Mark Vella (McGraw-Hill, $19.95) provide the answers and show you exactly what’s moving what — one push-up and cross-over crunch at a time.

What are they? Illustrated guides with anatomical drawings and detailed instructions on how to do specific exercises and how exercising one body part affects another.

Why do we like them? They make it easy to visualize your muscles in action, even if you are not exactly sure where your anterior deltoid or external obliques are located or which individual muscles belong to which groups. Also, we like the “Tips for Good Form” in Vella’s book and similar tips under “Look For …” and “Avoid …” in Manocchia’s.

What’s the difference in these books? “Anatomy of Exercise” is illustrated with photographs and anatomical drawings of men and women presented side by side, while “Anatomy for Strength and Fitness Training for Women” features anatomical illustrations within line drawings of female figures doing various exercises.