It's really not that hard either, practice makes perfect and practice just takes time. You've just got to understand that it's not that different from sculpting. Lets put it this way: the tools might be more technical, but then the tools shouldn't be the (early) focus.
You can succeed in box modeling with nothing more than:
element dissolve,
subdivide elements,
slide elements,
inset/extrude,
* bevel.
That is not a lot of tools.
However when I say that you have to understand it is not that different from sculpting I do very much mean you start blocking in rough shapes.Details come later.
A classic example borrowed from cgtalk:

Another example of box modeling:
http://www.rockfarm.ca/showcase/FigureBody.html
Poly by poly is a good choice for retopo, but I'd say box modeling is a better way to learn anatomy and topology.
Which brings us to our final - last but not least - point: Get some anatomy books, good reference is hard to come by. The books can be expensive but they are SO worth it.