Anyone read Ess. of Weightlifting & Strength Training" by Mohammed El-Hewie?

[Ken Urakawa]

A client brought in this book for me to take a look at. I'm still going through it, but it's pretty interesting--guy's an Egyptian M.D., and the book covers everything from nutrition to sex ed. to controlling load and volume in training.

He talks about how Olympic Weightlifting is the basis of it all, and then people took the primary assistance exercises (Dead, Squat, and Bench) to create powerlifting. And then some took the peripheral assistance stuff (chest, shoulders, arms) and created bodybuilding.

Some of his views are different from the standard western view--sees little or no use for animal protein or fat--but the weightlifting and exercise stuff is very well done. Very detailed descriptions of what's going on during the lifts at a fairly detailed anatomical level, which muscles stabilize which joints, etc., and also gets into some fairly detailed programming.

Talks about how deadlifts are a partial range of motion lift that cause shortening and stiffness of the spinal muscles, and should be followed by overhead work to avoid this. (Notes that deadlifts are so-named because they do not reach shoulder level, and "die out" before the arms can sustain further elevation of the weight). Also mentions how aggressive, voluntary exercises are controlled by the pyramidal neural tract, but don't engage the extra-pyramidal tract, potentially leading to fine motor skill deterioration.

Oh, and he also really likes Good Mornings, including jumping good mornings. Cool photo of him doing one with 315#.

There's a lot of interesting stuff in there, anyway. Just wondered if anyone else had read it or had any opinions.

[Steve Shafley]

The book is quite decent.

El-Hewie is a goofy bastard, though.

What I like is the whole "foreign" feel of the book. It's written and edited by those who speak English as a second or third language, and there are some unintentionally hilarious typos.

Nutrition is a bit dated.

I'd say it's worth being in the library of anyone who wants an Olympic lifting reference.

I'd say:

The Weightlifting Encyclopedia by Dreschler
The Tommy Kono OL book
then maybe El Hewie's book

[Ken Urakawa]

I know what you mean--there's just enough typos and weird language usage to make you pay attention. Some of the stuff that he says runs just enough counter to what I think that it makes me question, but then he comes back and makes some good arguments.

Definitely interesting, though.

[Chris Goodrich]

The strangest part was his discussion of posture, which he illustrated with an old Nazi propaganda photo of Adolf Hitler (bad posture) with a Hitler Jugend kid (good posture). WTF?

[Ken Urakawa]

I forgot about that one. And Hitler was even taking a step forward and bending down--not surprising his posture loooked off.

(And are we actually discussing the photographic merits of Adolf? Now THIS is a forum!)

[Mohamed F. El-Hewie]

Originally Posted by Ken Urakawa

A client brought in this book for me to take a look at. I'm still going through it, but it's pretty interesting--guy's an Egyptian M.D., and the book covers everything from nutrition to sex ed. to controlling load and volume in training.

He talks about how Olympic Weightlifting is the basis of it all, and then people took the primary assistance exercises (Dead, Squat, and Bench) to create powerlifting. And then some took the peripheral assistance stuff (chest, shoulders, arms) and created bodybuilding.

Some of his views are different from the standard western view--sees little or no use for animal protein or fat--but the weightlifting and exercise stuff is very well done. Very detailed descriptions of what's going on during the lifts at a fairly detailed anatomical level, which muscles stabilize which joints, etc., and also gets into some fairly detailed programming.

Talks about how deadlifts are a partial range of motion lift that cause shortening and stiffness of the spinal muscles, and should be followed by overhead work to avoid this. (Notes that deadlifts are so-named because they do not reach shoulder level, and "die out" before the arms can sustain further elevation of the weight). Also mentions how aggressive, voluntary exercises are controlled by the pyramidal neural tract, but don't engage the extra-pyramidal tract, potentially leading to fine motor skill deterioration.

Oh, and he also really likes Good Mornings, including jumping good mornings. Cool photo of him doing one with 315#.

There's a lot of interesting stuff in there, anyway. Just wondered if anyone else had read it or had any opinions.

The issue of typo in the paperback edition is taken care off in the hardcover. It is still foreign English though. It is mainly done by electronic translation that would never reach the level of fluidity of real English.

However, I attempted to use more photos in the hardcover edition to compensate for such deficiency. I cannot promise to elevate the English to where it should since I have to do that same thing in other languages as well. The Japanese are more upset at me more than the Americans. I cannot have it all folks.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/a...d=11632659 08

http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/a...d=11632655 16

[Ken Urakawa]

I guess that's known as going straight to the source!

I've been reading through the book for the last few weeks and have found it interesting and informative. Nice to have you here, Mr. El-Hewie.

[Mohamed F. El-Hewie]

Originally Posted by Ken Urakawa

I guess that's known as going straight to the source!

I've been reading through the book for the last few weeks and have found it interesting and informative. Nice to have you here, Mr. El-Hewie.

Thank you. I am amazed how you summarized the main topics of the book in such few lines, from the extrapyramidal signaling, to the functional anatomy of joints, to the lift that dies prematurely.

The photo of Hitler that distracts some readers has different foundation in ending up in my book than what many believe. It was taken in 1936, a period when many of my mentors in weightlifting were either born or in the prime of their power. Thus, the photo was attached to an untold personal history of that era.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie

[Russell Greene]

Didn't Power and Bulk have a problem a while back with a troll claiming to be Mohammed El-Hewie? How do we know this isn't the same guy? It seems kind of suspicious to me.

[Steve Shafley]

No, it was the real Dr. El-Hewie.

He graciously sent me a copy for review that I reviewed and had a few other individuals review on the Power and Bulk, but the ezboard glitch that wiped out ~99% of all ezboard posts across dozens of servers occurred shortly afterwards.

Apparently the good Doctor made a migration to the new P&B, and somehow got caught up in long, lengthly discussions about BMI, and bodyweight issues, and an admin who wasn't really in the loop decided it was a troll while I was busy with my son's then urgent medical issues.

By the time things had settled down for me, Dr. El-Hewie was considered a troll and banned.

The thing that irritated me the most, though, was the extensive review of his materials that I posted and then was lost.

I apologize for the misunderstandings, Dr. El-Hewie.