Bill Phillips had been publishing bodybuilding magazines and marketing nutritional supplements for years when he had a weird revelation at a trade show: many of the most loyal and enthusiastic readers he had were totally out of shape. From that uncomfortable realization came his popular Physique Transformation Contest (top prize that first year: Phillips's own Lamborghini), now world famous, and this book.

The three-times-a-week weightlifting program in Body for Life is deceptively simple. If you've spent any time in the gym, you've already done all the exercises. But Phillips includes a couple of high-intensity sets at the end of each exercise that should compound the training effect on each muscle group. Same goes for the cardiovascular exercise he recommends: just 20 minutes, three times a week. But those 20 minutes are spent jacking the intensity up and down, accomplishing more in less time.

Phillips arranges all this into a 12-week program, along with nutritional and motivational tips. Be warned that the nutritional advice gets a little spacey. For example, he puts "carbohydrates" and "vegetables" into separate categories, and recommends three daily doses of a nutritional supplement called Myoplex, which his company manufactures. (Fortunately, he gives tips on how to make each dose taste different, such as by adding drops of peppermint extract.) Despite this strangeness, Body for Life still motivates because so many others have achieved astounding results in similar 12-week windows, and the pictures and testimonials are here as evidence. --Lou Schuler


Amazon.com Audiobook Review
Bill Phillips is many things to the people who listen to this audiotape: personal trainer, motivational guru, nutrition consultant, personal-success coach. As he reads his bestselling book, he inspires, cajoles, instructs, and sometimes gives listeners a kick in the gluteals. The goal is for the listener to transform his or her body in 12 weeks, and in the process learn that changing one's physique can help one make other changes. The audiobook is spiced up with the comments and testimonials of those who've already done it. The effect is something like an infomercial, except that you've already bought the product, and you don't have to listen to a hired audience clapping. If you follow Phillips' program, you're your own audience. And, if you like your performance, the applause is what you feel inside. (Running time: 2 hours, 2 cassettes) --Lou Schuler


Fred and Rene Scurti, ages 38 and 35Sales Manager and Homemaker; Parker, Colorado
"When we discovered Bill Phillips, we realized we had been confronted with a simple decision, 'Change our lives or dig our own grave with a fork and knife.' After a few weeks on the program, our bodies were changing, but more than that, our relationship, our lives were changing."


Russell Simpson, M.D., age 47 Physician; Huntsville, Alabama
"After completing the 12-week program, I not only achieved my physical goals, I rediscovered passion in my life. This became the primary driving force behind my success. I've become the person I've always wanted to be."


Christy Hammons, Age 24 Accountant; Lexington, Kentucky
"When I first read about Bill's program, I felt a sense of hope I hadn't felt before. I was inspired to take the first crucial step--I decided to change. Within weeks, I felt better, I looked better, and people started to notice. After 12 weeks, I lost 30 pounds, 3 inches off my waist, 4 inches off my hips, and dropped 3 sizes. My life couldn't be better. I'm not settling for mediocrity ever again."


Hank Johnson, Age 39 NASA Space Shuttle Engineer; Cape Canaveral, Florida
"While going through Bill Phillips' program, the physical changes I experienced were just the 'tip of the iceberg' for the changes in my mind-set. It empowered me and opened my eyes to the possibilities of change in all areas of my life."


John Elway Two-Time NFL World Champion
"I admire Bill Phillips because he believes so much in what he's doing, and he's helped so many people, including me. The time I've spent with Bill over the last couple years has been tremendous for me. I feel better mentally and physically. I believe the more his message gets out, the better off everybody's going to be."


Christy Hammons, Age 24 Accountant; Lexington, Kentucky
"When I first read about Bill's program, I felt a sense of hope I hadn't felt before. I was inspired to take the first crucial stepI decided to change. Within weeks, I felt better, I looked better, and people started to notice. After 12 weeks, I lost 30 pounds, 3 inches off my waist, 4 inches off my hips, and dropped 3 sizes. My life couldn't be better. I'm not settling for mediocrity ever again."


Russell Simpson, M.D., age 47 Physician; Huntsville, Alabama
"After completing the 12-week program, I not only achieved my physical goals, I rediscovered passion in my life. This became the primary driving force behind my success. I've become the person I've always wanted to be."


John Elway Two-Time NFL World Champion
"I admire Bill Phillips because he believes so much in what he's doing, and he's helped so many people, including me. The time I've spent with Bill over the last couple years has been tremendous for me. I feel better mentally and physically. I believe the more his message gets out, the better off everybody's going to be."


Fred and Rene Scurti, ages 38 and 35Sales Manager and Homemaker; Parker, Colorado
"When we discovered Bill Phillips, we realized we had been confronted with a simple decision, 'Change our lives or dig our own grave with a fork and knife.' After a few weeks on the program, our bodies were changing, but more than that, our relationship, our lives were changing."


Book Description
Mention the name Bill Phillips to any of the people he's helped transform and you will see their faces light up with appreciation and respect. These people include: Hundreds of thousands of men and women who read his magazine for guidance and straightforward information about exercise, nutrition, and living with strength. Elite professional athletes–among them John Elway, Karl Malone, Mike Piazza, and Terrell Davis–who have turned to Phillips for clear-cut information to enhance their energy and performance. People once plagued by obesity, alcoholism, and life-threatening ailments who accepted a personal challenge from Bill Phillips and, with his help, have regained control of their bodies and their lives. When you begin to apply the information in this book, you will be proving to yourself that astounding changes are within your grasp too. And, you will discover Body-for-LIFE is much more than a book about physical fitness–it's a gateway to a new and better life–a life of rewarding and fulfilling moments, perhaps more spectacular than you've ever dared to dream before. Within 12 weeks, you too are going to know -- not believe, but know -–that the transformation you've created with your body is merely an example of the power you have to transform everything else in your world. In language that is vivid and down-to-earth, Bill Phillips guides you, step by step, through the integrated Body-for-LIFE Program, which reveals: How to lose fat and increase your strength by exercising less, not more; How to tap into an endless source of energy by living with the Power MindsetTM; How to create more time for everything meaningful in your life; How to trade hours of aerobics for minutes of weight training–with dramatic results; How to make continual progress by using the High-Point TechniqueTM; How to feed your muscles while starving fat with the Eating-for-LIFE MethodTM; How thousands of ordinary people have now become extraordinary and how you can, too; How to gain control of your body and life, once and for all. The principles of the Body-for-LIFE Program are surprisingly simple but remarkably powerful. So allow yourself to experience the force of the information in this book–allow yourself to take your mind, your body, your life to a higher point than you may have ever dreamed you could. All in as little as 12 weeks.


About the Author
Bill Phillips has helped literally hundreds of thousands of people from around the world build stronger bodies and enjoy a higher quality of life. His program of building physical and mental strength is shared in the #1 New York Times bestselling book Body-for-Life. Phillips is the creator of EAS, the world's leading performance-nutrition company, and is the founder of Muscle Media magazine. The United States Junior Chamber of Commerce named Phillips as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans in the year 2000.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Body for Life details a 12-week program designed to get readers in shape, fast, using targeted weight training. Bill Phillips is one of bodybuilding's best-known gurus, and in this tremendously successful book he adapts traditional bodybuilding techniques to help ordinary people break through their fitness barriers. The legendary trainer provides a surefire strategy for developing the motivation and energy to rebuild your body and your life.

ANNOTATION

The founder and executive editor of "Muscle Media"--one of the nation's fastest growing strength training magazines--presents a 12-week motivational program to achieve mental and physical fitness for a lifetime.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Step into any gym in America, mention the name Bill Phillips, and watch the faces light up with recognition and respect.

These include:

Hundreds of thousands of men and women who turn to Phillips's monthly magazine, Muscle Media, for guidance and straight-forward information about exercise, nutrition, and living with strength.

Professional and amateur athletes--among them John Elway, Karl Malone, and Mike Piazza--and celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone, who have relied on Phillips' clear-cut information to enhance their energy and performance.

People once plagued by obesity, alcoholism, and even life-threatening ailments who accepted a personal challenge from Phillips and, with his help, turned their bodies and their lives around.

Body-for-LIFE is much more than a book on physical fitness, it's also an inspiring true story of one man's journey through life and the lives he's touched--a journey that began with a dream of helping one million people rebuild their bodies and has evolved into the challenge of a lifetime, a quest to help people from all walks of life search for, and discover, the hero inside each and every one of us.

Step-by-step, in language that is vivid and down-to-earth, Phillips maps out a guaranteed recipe for success.

This is not a vague, pie-in-the-sky "motivational" book. Neither is it a dense, technical manual about anatomy and physiology. In these pages, you will learn: How to develop the mind-set to cross the abyss between knowledge and action How to create not only more time but more energy in your day How to lose fat and gain muscle by eating more, not less How to trade hours of aerobics for minutes of weight training--with dramatic results How thousands of ordinary people have become extraordinary role models and how you can too

The principles of the Body-for-LIFE program are profoundly simple, but remarkably powerful. So pull out your calendar, mark 12 weeks from today, and allow yourself to experience the power of the information in this book. Then get ready to take your body, and your life, to a higher point than you may have ever dreamed possible.

Change Your Mind--Change Your Body--Change Your Life

Imagine, just 12 weeks from now, having the lean healthy body you've always wanted and not having to turn your life upside-down to get it.

Imagine having the energy to be at your peak from dawn to dusk, having the confidence to do all the things you've been putting off, having the certainty to make the right decision at the right time, knowing that you really do have the power to change--not just your body but anything in this world you set your mind to.

If this sounds unlikely, or even impossible, it's time you were introduced to Bill Phillips and his Body-for-LIFE program--it's time you join the legions of people who have reaped the benefits of his expert advice.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

While going through Bill Phillips' program, the physical changes I experienced were just the 'tip of the iceberg' for the changes in my mind-set. It empowered me and opened my eyes to the possibilities of change in all areas of my life.  — (Hank Johnson, Age 39 NASA Space Shuttle Engineer; Cape Canaveral, Florida)

I admire Bill Phillips because he believes so much in what he's doing, and he's helped so many people, including me. The time I've spent with Bill over the last couple years has been tremendous for me. I feel better mentally and physically. I believe the more his message gets out, the better off everybody's going to be.  — (John Elway, Two-Time NFL World Champion)

When we discovered Bill Phillips, we realized we had been confronted with a simple decision, 'Change our lives or dig our own grave with a fork and knife.' After a few weeks on the program, our bodies were changing, but more than that, our relationship, our lives were changing.  — (Fred and Renee Scurti, ages 38 and 35, Sales Manager and Homemaker; Parker, Colorado)

After completing the 12-week program, I not only achieved my physical goals, I rediscovered passion in my life. This became the primary driving force behind my success. I've become the person I've always wanted to be.  — (Russell Simpson, M.D., age 47 Physician; Huntsville, Alabama)