Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I loved this book when I first read it, probably because I was uneducated about stretching. Pavel introduced this stretching technique which "instantly allowed me to touch my toes". It's quite simple, it's called Proprioceptive-Neuro-Muscular-Facilitation. PNF is found in many of the basic physical fitness texts. It is not revolutionary, it was not discovered "on the other side of the Iron Curtain", and it is not something worth $34.95 of your hard earned money. The only contribution Pavel has is showing you how to do PNF yourself. So you don't have to spend the money, I'll tell you right now: Go to a decent stretch, flex the muscle(s) being stretched. Hold your breath to increase the intensity of the flex, and then release the breath and the flex at the same time. Boom, you're done. Also, this book does not have any discussion on program formation, stretch selection, or stretch order. All of these should be incorporated into a text on stretching. It's worth it for fun if you already know what you're talking about. Otherwise, there are plenty of other stretching books that are much more worthwhile and are definitely more economical. That said, nobody is as fun or easy to read as the Evil Russian. And he does cover some interesting theories on muscle tension.