As a beginner in all things weight lifting, I found this book to be informative and helpful, and can't wait to try these exercises out at my local gym!

This was a great little book, with wonderful illustrations! I love the variety of exercises and the variety of workouts. My only complaint is that I wish that he had made more than one 8 week program. It will definitely come in handy at the gym!

This book is a fun way to learn how to do various exercises both at the gym and at home. As a personal trainer, I found this book to be amusing with the way Fil Ruberto created characters to demonstrate the movements. I have always found it difficult to learn a movement through static pictures alone and so I found that for someone who knows how to exercise and knows the terminology this would be the perfect book to remind him or her of those exercises and how to integrate them into either their own routine or the one that Fil gives. For beginners, however, this book would be hard to understand because just having two to three pictures for one exercise really doesn't show the range of motion of the exercise very well. In fact, the characters in the book are so muscley that in some of the drawings it's hard to even see how one drawing is different from the next. For example, a shoulder shrug is a small movement and in the illustrations, someone who knows what the exercise looks like would say, "oh yeah, I see the trapezius muscle is a little higher in picture number two." For the layperson, it's a hard difference to see. So although I think the workout plans and the verbal explanations are good, the illustrations, although creative would be better off in a comic book than to show the exercises.

Thank you to Netgalley, Fil Ruberto, and Tiller Press for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Deezify's Epic Workout Handbook is exactly that, a workout handbook. It outlines various workout moves, and then plans a WOD (workout of the day) using the moves previously described. The uniqueness this book brings to the physical fitness industy are the graphic novel-like drawings of characters performing the workouts.

If you're a seasoned weightlifter, you'll find this book a fun addition to your home gym. It may even inspire you to get swole for the next American Ninja Warrior competition, or Spartan Race. There isn't much to the book other than outlines of commonly known moves and the handful of WODs.

As a reader, I found the artsy style was inviting, but the author/publisher could have taken it one step further. Maybe it was the ebook version, but the formatting was minimal and sparse, while the images looked thrown in haphazardly. I would have liked to see a more complete product, and think this idea is fabulous. The workouts themselves were typical, except for a handful I'd never heard of before. And when something new was introduced, the reader was expected to know it from some preexisting location (not the book).

Overall, I think it was worth a read, but needs work to make it onto my reference shelf.

I've read a few workout books. I've done a few workouts. They are usually pretty boring. This one is a very simple, fairly easy to understand breakdown of basic lifts BUT the draw is the all in the drawings.

Ruberto has taken all of his favorite lifts and moves and created some very cool comic book style drawings to show you how to do each one. I would actually love to see these as posters to put around the home gym or cards to play WOD games with. Like a very painful version of Uno or something.

He also included some of his favorite WOD's and a simple workout plan for people who are too lazy to put together their own (aka me). All in all it seems to be a pretty solid lifting book and he seems to know what he's doing here. Everything was pretty on par with Wendler, Contreras and Ripptoe.

Simple and easy to understand. I actually let my husband look over the workbook so he has a better workout log when he lifts. I enjoyed the illustrations and of course, the names of the characters. I also like that it comes with both an eight week and twelve week program.

For the past two years, I have been more concerned with fitness in general and physical therapy after two surgeries one year apart, the latter, two weeks before quarantine in March. As a result, I have been grabbing what I could about fitness in order to try to restore as much function as possible. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read, study, use, and review Deezify’s Epic Workout.

You have to read the Introduction to understand that Deezify is a nickname for the author, Fil Ruberto. It is apparently a complement to his training regimen and the results (”how can I get deezed like you?”). His path eventually led him to compile his exercises and work them into daily workouts and a real plus is that Fil provides an 8-week training regimen.

This is a good book for someone who is already weight training - perhaps the regular at Planet Fitness. The workouts of the day (WOD) and the 8-week program will provide some structure to their workouts.

I do think the programs in this book may be a stretch for the beginner. As Deezify says in the book, it is good to work with a trainer and I would echo that advice especially for those new to weight training.

I don’t have weights at home and in quarantine, I have been using resistance bands and TRX (Total Resistance Exercise) for my workouts. What I decided to do was to convert the WOD and 8-week program to resistance bands so I could take advantage of the material in Deezify’s Epic Workout. Between the text and the graphics, there is enough information to do the conversion.

As for the pictures - it is wonderful that Fil shares his artwork with us, but I have to admit it was a bit jarring at first. I wanted to see photographs depicting people doing the exercises, but I understand Fil’s reason that showing someone with a perfect body or photoshopped body does nothing for the reader. The artwork, on the other hand, is neutral. After several weeks with the Workout Handbook, I have grown accustomed to the graphics. I think it was a smart trick.

Buying the book is the first step on your course to better health and fitness. I have to agree with Deezify to consult a physician especially if you are just beginning a training routine. Have a trainer to work with through the 8-week program. This is a wise choice.

I would like to thank the author, Simon and Schuster, and NetGalley for providing the advance review copy. I am voluntarily leaving this review.

I'm a big gym junkie, so I wouldn't be the target audience; however, given how saturated the fitness industry is, I can see how this book can be a niche. Fitness tips and guides are plentiful online but beware of the "bro-science". I do enjoy the fact that having an illustration format for an epic workout caters to today's society, but I rarely see anyone carrying a book into the gym, ensuring they are following instructions.

I do know that telling a story using a manga/comic style has always been easy to digest, but would probably prefer to see this in a digital format, so the newbie gym attendees aren't too embarrassed reading something on their phone.

I feel as though this is a good guideline for someone...just not me. My trainer might be more inclined to utilize this as she leans towards bodybuilding efforts.

The artwork makes this book stand out from other workout books. But, I found the book to be short on content. Without art, the book is a list of workouts with little explanation, instruction, or safety measures. There also is a very "bro" feel to the writing that could be offputting to some readers.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was fun to read / look at- there are illustrations for each move and characters to go with it. I have to say, I was not previously familiar with the with the author or what it meant to "get deezed" prior to reading (it basically mean's getting swole/fit/muscular for anyone else who wasn't sure). The book does tend to come off a bit 'bro-y' and I wish that some of the exercises had a bit more step by step breakdown... But that comes from my personal idea of more info = safer movements. That being said, I do think most would be able to follow along. The book also comes with a 8-week workout plan that could be useful if you wanted to implement straight-away.... but be warned that this is the very end of the book. While there are several WOD's (workouts of the day), the bulk of the book is spent on the illustrations.

Overall, it seems like a cool introduction for workout support, but maybe not something I'd rely on as my only resource.

I have an addiction to looking for workout routines (not always great at following through though). This looks like it could make it to my list of trying it. I loved the idea of the comics and workouts, makes it seem more fun.

I found this book to be very helpful. First, the author at the beginning tells how he got into being a fitness instructor and also how he decided to incorporate artwork into his workout plan for people. Just to give them something different and to make it fun. Like both ideas. Also, he shows the ways different routines should be done and gives you tips om not bending knees, keeping back straight, and so forth. He also has some weight training that has band resistance which I had not seen at the gym I worked out in yet.
I really do suggest that you read the beginning of the book in order to get the full effect of what he is trying to get across. I liked it.

I'd never heard of Ruberto before seeing this book on NetGalley, and I'm wondering if I missed something with this book by going in blind.

The first 100 pages or whatever are artistic images of swole historical or fantasy characters preforming the lifts (a Spartan, Ares, an Amazon, etc), and a small, not-helpful image of a real human lifting. Several lifts are repeated for reasons I can't identify, and while the artwork is good I don't know why this is most of the book.

The Workouts of the Day (WOD) look legitimate, with actual descriptions and pictures of the individual lifts. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE BULK OF THE BOOK. The first part of cool pictures is for Instagram, not for an actual book people are spending money on. I got the ebook, and I screenshot a few of the workouts to print and use for my workouts.

The eight-week workout included also looks pretty legitimate. Wish there were a couple different ones, maybe with focus on different goals for different longer-term workouts, but maybe the WODs cover that.

I don't know if I'm missing something, but if you're a fan of Ruberto you may like this book more than me.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.