Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength by Steven Low (2011-11-12) Paperback – January 1, 2011

The book felt a little expensive at fifty dollars ($43 on amazon), and it's not even a hardback (Compared to Becoming a Supple Leopard hard cover for $28). But it's over 500 pages, the reviews are great, people on /r/bodyweightfitness seem to really love it, and /u/eshlow is around helpfully answering questions with a positive attitude, so I decided to buy it. After making my way through most of the book, I'd say it's worth much more than what I paid for it.The book isn't just about gymnastic movements; it's almost (see Other thoughts below) an all around workout companion. He spends chapters discussing why and how to develop a balanced routine, and the various ways to go about doing so. He talks about goals and having a plan; strength vs endurance. He talks about programming, what a beginner should follow all the way up to programming for people at the level of competitive gymnasts. He talks about programming for more experienced individuals, and what they can do to continue making progress (daily undulating periodization, heavy/light days, other variations). He talks about problems people have, possible workarounds, and expectations if you have other commitments. There's a chapter on rehab and how injuries affect you and what you can do about it (see a doctor! before it gets worse!). He spends time talking about diet, supplements, and other factors like sleep at the end of the book.If you're serious about fitness, you probably already know most of what is covered in the main text portion (or not; I learned acetaminophen is not an anti-inflammatory). The rest of the book (more than half of it) is devoted to the appendices. He covers sample programming for all levels: what a beginner might cover, an intermediate routine, an advanced workout, and all levels in-between. Another appendix is devoted to the progressions. Here he details the entire progression series from basic movements to full mastery, and explains what each step requires. There's also a quick reference chart to see the progressions at-a-glance.I find Overcoming Gravity to be a very useful reference book. I pick it up all the time to ensure I'm doing a movement right. The progression chart is very helpful, especially with the lateral comparisons in difficulty level (e.g. overhead press vs headstand pushup). It's also helpful to know what to do next (so I can L sit, now what?), or at least, show different options, and it's useful to see what movements can lead to (e.g. leaning dips to maltese). The real value for me is the detailed explanation for each step of every progression, and to a lesser extent, all the material covered in the main section of the book.Pros- Covers all aspects of routine building for all levels (main text), and most related topics- Quick summary progression chart- Detailed explanation for every step of every progression (and a few bonus items)- Author is experienced (gymnast) and knowledgeable (physical therapy) and available (/r/overcominggravity)- All topics are covered in detail (this isn't a short book)Cons- Photographs are low quality- Type-setting is sub-par- Lack of editor is very apparent, grammar mistakes galore, constant use of "we"- No footnotes. Mentioning relevant scientific studies would have been helpful.Other thoughts- Gymnastics work is somewhat lacking regarding leg progressions. This is mentioned in the book, and it's suggested that barbell training be pursued for legs and it's never really discussed again. This is perhaps one of the only things keeping this book from being a "complete" workout guide for a bodyweight-focused routine.- There are several egregious editorial mistakes ("If they are to be used consistently through a mesocycle be careful look for plateaus that as they may develop early because of the extra toll on recovery." p76, "Unlike the front lever, there are many different exercises that help develop the front lever..." p358) and many minor ones throughout the text, but the information contained therein is accurate and congruent with the current scientific understanding of strength training.- If I had a friend interested in learning gymnastics type movements I would definitely recommend this book.

Before I give my opinion, a little apologize if I wrote something that is not correct because english is not my native language.I will try to explain why I give 5 stars to this book, and I will also try to be objective.First, I give this rating compare this book vs other bodyweight strength based books, and not because Overcoming gravity is a perfect book from different points of view, but that observation we can apply to any book.Interesting enough, it seems that books about bodyweight strength always have lots of attention, and audience always want more about that topic.There are lots of bodyweight strength based books, but the most popular is Naked Warrior by Pavel Tsatsouline , Never Gymless by Ross Enamait, Convict Conditioning 1,2 by Paul Wade, Building gymnastic bodies from Coach Sommer, etc. Every one of this books have specific philosophy that comes from author, they are motivated and interesting, and have progressions for most popular exercises.Why this book Overcoming Gravity is different, and what to expect ?Compare to most other books, this book share the knowledge and specificity with book Building the gymnastic bodies, and this is about gymnastics exercises not only for gymnast, but for any fitness enthusiast and everyone no matter age, to improve strength in a way they never do before, and learn some specific gymnastic skills. But here is the catch. Compare to basic only exercises like pushups, squats etc., this road is very hard to accomplish, and progressive exercises from pushups to planche pushups for example is not that easy, and for most people does not yield results they expected, or the process is very slow, not to mention injuries. When people start to complain about that, on the surface comes information about preparation, rehabilitation, properly programming, and some prerequisites that you must learn first, and lots of other stuff that you can read in forums, but it is very time consuming to close that puzzle, so we want this in one place, or at least most of it.Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low comes in the game with that thing in mind. Coach Sommer start the revolution, his book is ok, but he missed this,(ok, this is first book, he said there will be second edition), and suddenly this book comes out, and bring the light. The question is : Is it enough ? It will never be when it comes to training and skills, so relax, don't expect perfection. This book is huge. Steven Low try to incorporate lots of informations, and it is obvious that he put lots of effort and heart into this book. Almost everything is here, preparation, rehabilitation, charts to find where you are, tables about how many reps, sets for concentric, eccentric, isometric work, but the most important this book will teach you how to properly put together exercise programs, and what to include based on your goals, and also many and the most popular exercises and explanation on how and when to progress. For every topic in this book, it is possible to write another book based only on that topic. This is also advantage and fault at the same time, because there will always be people who can tell that one book that combine so many things and informations at the end fall short. I dont care, there is no perfection. We all want that in one place, so here it is. At the moment you will not find not even close that kind of information in other strength based books. Because of this, Overcoming gravity is the best at the moment.My reward to Mr Steven Low, and full recommendation for this book.