Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Humans are not physically normal in the absence of hard physical effort. Exercise is not a thing we do to fix a problem, but a thing we must do anyway. It is the thing we must do to replicate the conditions under which our bodies are adapted, the conditions under which we are physically normal. #2 The first piece of equipment developed to assist with resistance training was the barbell, which is a metal shaft with some sort of weight on each end. The earliest barbells used spheres or globes for weight, which could be adjusted for balance and load by filling them with sand or shot. #3 The same principle applies to exercise machines as it does to gravity: if you train your body in ways that it doesn't use, you won't get any benefit from it. The human body functions as a system, and it gains strength in a manner that is similar to how it uses that strength. #4 Barbells and their exercises are far superior to any other training tools that have ever existed. They allow weight to be moved in the way the body was designed to move it, and every aspect of the movement is controlled by the trainee.