The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess

This book is written mainly by Lou Schuler, a journalist and strength and conditioning coach. Alwyn Cosgrove designs the workouts in the book and Cassandra Forsythe designs the meal plans and recipes. These are experts that I keep up with and respect very much so we're off to a good start. WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR This book says it's for anyone from beginners to experienced exercisers. I disagree that it's for all beginners. I think there is a lot to digest in this book and beginners might get frustrated and confused and end up putting the book down. However if you have the motivation I definitely think it's doable. I'm not going to mention that they remind women they will not bulk up from lifting. I am so sick of this excuse from women and that we have to keep repeating it. Why are we still talking about this?? Is it not public knowledge now, even if you only read occasional fitness articles, that women will not bulk up like men if they lift like men? It is physically not possible and an excuse that women use so they don't have to lift. Enough said, end of story. Lift weights, you know it's good for you. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT LIFTING The purpose of lifting ENOUGH weight is to build muscle. The key word is enough. 'If the weights are unchallenging, your muscles won't grow. If your muscles don't grow, they won't look any better than they do now, even if you could somehow strip off whatever fat sits on top of them.' They are basically going against almost everything you've learned in the past. There are exercises done daily by me and everyone else at the gym that they say NOT to do. Their 'motto' summarized in one sentence is as follows, 'If it's what your body was designed to do, it's probably not bad form. And if the exercise requires you to do something unnatural, you should think twice before doing it.' In real life when do your arms move as they do in a bicep curl? There are other exercises you can do that work the biceps along with other muscles that normally work with your biceps. STEP AWAY FROM THE TREADMILL Chapter 3 is dedicated to doing less cardio. This is a fairly new idea that I think is finally starting to catch on. But it's been drilled into our heads for so long that I think it will take a while to break the habit of doing sooooo much cardio. It is all about the afterburn. The higher the intensity of the workout the more calories your body will burn afterwards. Also, 'serious strength training also signals your body to burn a higher percentage of fat calories for many hours after you leave the gym'. Bonus!! One sentence stuck out to me because I have really adapted to the cardio I'm doing lately. 'Your body will adapt to the increased efficiency by selectively shrinking your type I muscle fibers.' They are all for interval training and go into detail about the best and most efficient intervals. WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT CALORIE INTAKE Overall they are against cutting calories for two reasons - 1. You l

"Lift like a man, look like a Goddess" says the book. But is it true? I believe it is, and this book is right on the money. It is cleanly divided into three parts. The first part discusses the similarities between men's and women's bodies as it pertains to weight lifting- and why they should train the same. I agree with the book on this point entirely. While women's muscles won't get as big as a man's from lifting weights, the stimulus to make a woman's muscle bigger and stronger is identical to that of a man's- overload the muscle with progressively heavier weights. Part two, "You aren't what you don't eat", is the eating/diet section of the book. A lot of wisdom is also packed in here as the book gives the reader a lot of basic nutrition info, such as calorie needs, protein intake, etc. The reader is also introduced to the four "Ironclad Rules" which include: you must eat breakfast, you must eat a total of 5 meals and snacks a day, you must have a post-workout recovery shake on the days you lift, and you must have more calories on workout days than the other days. Meal plans are nicely laid out for the reader in this section as well. Lastly comes part three, "Resistance is vital." Of course this is the section that discusses the workout routines and the exercises. Without going into details, you work out 2-3 times a week, and the workouts are divided in 7 stages (each with a certain goal) which roughly give you 6 months worth of workouts- which I might add, are all highly detailed in the book. Pictures of warm-up exercises and the resistance exercises are included and very easy to follow. Weight lifting exercises are nothing crazy, with a lot of them being sensible, basic exercises such as squats, deadlifts, and various presses. As a trainer, I found this to be a very sensible weight lifting book for women. Yes it does invovlve some work, but then again that is the only way to make a muscle stronger, whether you're a man or a woman- which is the whole point of the book. Based on a lot of sound science, I give it two thumbs up for a very helpful, effective, and "doable" book. Also recommend Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff for readers who have a shoulder problem that interferes with their training.

I was so excited to get this book, I read the whole thing the day I got it. It gets down to business pretty quickly. No pages of gushing testimonials or before-and-after pictures to take up space. Just the facts, ma'am (and a protein shake, please). Lou Schuler is direct and pleasantly engaging in his explanation of The New Rules of Lifting for Women. He is also very thorough. The reading gets a teensy bit tedious here and there, but it would be a disservice to you if it weren't. He also offers the courtesy of his notes in the back of the book, which cite the majority of his sources (to the best of his recollection). I appreciate the honesty and straightforwardness with which he writes. I even understand his perspective on why he omits motivational talk from the text. Several of the exercises in the workout section are new to me, which is motivating enough. If I can perform, frankly, any of those workouts...I'm one tough broad, LOL! Everything in the workout section is explained and charted for you. There are pictures which illustrate the exercises (thank you!)Workouts are set up for you for seven weeks. The nutrition section is super-sensible, with recipes for dishes that you wouldn't mind sharing. No weird or exotic ingredients. It's not fat- or carbophobic, either. And you get to EAT, ladies! Five times a day. Six, if it's a workout day. That practically makes eating a hobby! You can even have some dark chocolate. I'm excited to be doing this, mostly because of workouts with exercises I've never seen before. Lift like a man; look like a goddess!

Since it's New Year's Day and my gym is closed (not to mention, it's snowing AGAIN here in southern Maine), I finally have some time to peruse my new copy of The New Rules of Lifting for Women. THANK YOU, LOU for such a fabulous book!! Finally, someone is telling women that if they are serious about wanting to lose weight and get fit they need to step away from the treadmill (and stair climber and elliptical machine!) and PICK UP SOME WEIGHTS. Lou takes cutting edge research on training, distills it into easily understandable hunks of information, and sprinkles a heapin' helping of humor on top of it all. The section of the book about nutrition and eating (I cannot, in good conscience, refer to it as "dieting") is straightforward and no-nonsense. You need to cut out the crap, but not calories, when you start training hard. The workout programs were developed by the amazing Alwyn Cosgrove. (If you can't train in person with the guy, using the programs he's put together is probably the next best thing.) Individual exercises are explained in great detail, with as much (or more) emphasis on the "why" as there is on the "how to". I've been lifting weights on and off for the past eight years (more "off" than "on" for the last three or four, I must admit), and I'm really looking forward to retooling my workouts with the help of this book. Now if it would just stop snowing long enough for me to get to the gym, I'll be all set...