Muscle: Confessions of an Unlikely Bodybuilder Hardcover – January 1, 1991 by Samuel Wilson Fussell
 
The author describes his journey from ninety-eight pound weakling to prizewinning muscle man, through four years of endless repetitive exercises, prodigious quantities of food and vitamins, and massive steroid injections
 
From Publishers Weekly
"I sing of arms and the man," writes Fussell in this account of his four years as a serious bodybuider. The son of academics and an Oxford graduate himself, the author returned to New York after college to find himself "in a constant state of terror in the city." At 64 and 170 pounds, Fussell reacted by pumping iron in 1984, then moved to the West Coast and eventually reached his peak: 257 pounds of bone and muscle, impressive enough to participate in local contests. While focusing on his own development the author also examines the world at large of bodybuilders, portraying their diets, drugs and dedication to the sport as a kind of religion over which Arnold Schwarzenegger presides as chief deity. Fussell finally quit, fearing he had become a human caricature--and less than human. A book of minor significance, but enjoyable reading.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
 
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