The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess by Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.92 You Save: $15.03 (58%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess
Book Review: Get results without overtraining
Summary: 5 Stars
As the mother of 11-month old, I am still in the process of losing the dreaded last ten pounds. Although most people tell me that I don't even look like I've had a baby, they don't know that I have to squeeze into the jeans that used to fit me perfectly because my stomach isn't as flat as it used to be. I'm one of those girls the magazines call "skinny fat"--thin with no physical strength or endurance. Between losing the baby weight and getting stronger, I looked for books that can help me do both.
This is the fourth weight lifting book I have purchased, and it is by far the most helpful. I used to abhor strength training. Three out of the four books I've read include exercises for every small muscle you can think of. As a result, I spent more time at the gym than I would like. There was a "lower body day", "upper body day" , and "abs day". I didn't like strength training to begin with, and having to spend more time on it than necessary made me dislike it even more. I eventually stopped.
Enter "New Rules...For Women". This book allows me to strength train without wearing me down with exercises for every small muscle. And these workouts are by no means easy. You're not using "Barbie weights" (as the author calls them). You are going to be using real weights that you will increase as you get stronger. I like the fact that the plan requires you to exercise 3 times a week (a rest day in between each session). To me, this is a realistic time commitment, since many of us don't have enough time to exercise like celebrities.
The diet plan is excellent. I like the fact that you are not required to eat like a bird or cut out certain food groups entirely (I would die without rice and pasta!). You are by no means restricted to the food in this book, but I've tried a lot the recipes, and I love them. The food is flavorful REAL food that is healthy. I use a lot of other recipes that are similar in nutritional content (love Rachael Ray!) to complement the program.
So, did the advice work? A friend told me I looked much more fit in the upper body than I did a few weeks ago...and that was only 2 weeks into the program! I've gone from 129 lbs. to 122 lbs. in 4 weeks without cutting any calories. My jeans fit better, and even my husband noticed that my stomach isn't as "poochy" as it was a few weeks ago. I am going to start stage 2 of the workout a week from now, and I look forward to getting even healthier.
Book Review: The best way to build strength and loose weight
Summary: 5 Stars
I have watched many of my co workers use this work out and all have more strength and lost weight, looken great.
BUT IT IS VERY HARD WORK AND YOU HAVE TO STICK TO IT!!!!!!!!!
Book Review: Duh!
Summary: 5 Stars
This training guide is amazing. I come from a family of male body builders ... and being a woman it was a bit difficult for them to instruct me (They don't realize that women can and should lift in a similar way... read and you will understand)... So I had spent many years trying to figure out how to get stronger (running/cycling/swimming) but all those endurance workouts did was make me more efficient at lengthy/intense workouts and I wasn't getting "stronger" ... my pace was always the same even as the miles/laps increased. This book is amazing... It's what I have been looking for for years. It's a no nonsense manual to building muscle, getting healthy while dispelling countless fitness misconceptions. Information is backed by the authors apparent long history and wisdom while also referencing professional/medical studies. This book is both interesting, informative and easy to understand... The six months of workouts is great! All angles are covered... read it in two days and revolutionize your workout pallet. This is the only book I have ever bothered to write a review for...! I was wary of the "meal plan" section... I don't really like my fitness books to have meal plans BUT this one was really on point. INstead of cutting calories, Lou Schuler and Cassandra Forsythe explain that creating a calorie deficit while training is totally counter productive to building muscle and being healthy. You will like this book. Awesome.
Book Review: Maybe better than having a personal trainer
Summary: 5 Stars
I work out 5-6 times a week, doing either an hour of cardio over 150 beats per minute or an hour with my personal trainer (2x week). So I'm reasonably fit and strong for a 47-year old woman. My trainer suddenly quit without warning, so I got this book, and I'm really, really glad. I'm stronger than I was when I had my trainer even though I'm only in Phase I still. The compound exercises this book recommends are SO much faster than standard exercises/machines, and the combinations the author puts together work muscles in groups, which makes so much sense when you think about it. I can be done with lifting in under 45 minutes, warm-up and stretching not included. It's faster AND I'm getting a better workout. And I'm gaining strength faster than I thought possible. The author's goal to able to do unassisted chinups is one I really aspire to. I haven't done an unassisted chinup since the third grade!
I ran into my trainer and told him what I was doing, and he liked it a lot. He said that the combinations of exercises in the workouts is good, like pushups (pushing) and seated rows (pulling) for a full-body workout. That's certainly how it feels. The form is really important--if you don't know how (having had a trainer helps), get someone to show you and USE THE MIRRORS. Doing compound exercises wrong is not just ineffective, it's dangerous. But they are way more effective than 10-lb dumbells, and it's how your body was MEANT to work.
If you lift 3x week, this book is a six-month program. Most trainers won't put you on that organized a program--my trainer didn't have me doing chinups in 6 months! Anyone can go to the gym and do the same four things over and over--having 2 workouts to alternate between, knowing when to change them up, and having the workouts be designed with a common goal is what sets this book apart. I'm just worried what I'll do in month 7--maybe the author will do a follow on!
Book Review: Most successful book for me
Summary: 5 Stars
New Rules of Lifting for Men was quite interesting, but I didn't do anything with it as it was so targeted at men. But I eagerly bought this new women's version, which is similar in some ways but overall is quite different and definitely targeted for women. I enjoyed Lou Schuler's witty writing style and offbeat humor, which made the information easier to digest and less dry. I read this entire book carefully front to back (important to do!!) and decided to implement co-writer Alwyn Cosgrove's workouts exactly as written and stick with it. One caveat: I think this book and its workouts is NOT for total beginners. In a way, you have to "arrive" at this book and the ideas it presents. I think if you were a newcomer to weight training you'd need some help with the exercises and proper form (particularly the squats and deadlifts, which must be done correctly to avoid injury). As a newcomer you would not have the frame of reference to appreciate the total brilliance of the workouts.
I've worked out and tried many different programs in the last 10 years. I admit to having a tendency to "over-do" my workouts, my approach was always "more must be better", and consequently I always burned out on the programs and the 2-hour workouts I'd end up doing. Despite my hard work, I never got the results I wanted. Coming into this book, I knew a lot of weight routines and was familiar with proper weightlifting form. At first glance I thought the routines didn't look hard or detailed enough, that there were too few exercises! But I was WRONG! Despite the apparent simplicity of the workouts, they are not easy or fluffy. Rather, they are quite substantial because they are not isolation exercises. Every exercise works multiple muscles at one time. Fewer exercises but more muscles worked in a natural way. (Think of tripceps kickbacks with dumbbells: This is not a movement you'd ever do in real life. Plus, it's not great for your elbows!!).
This book argues that to build muscle, gain strength and lose fat, you need to concentrate on multi-joint type exercises (i.e. squats, deadlifts, pushups, step-ups etc.) and not waste time with a multitude of individual isolation type exercises (i.e. bicep curls, tricep kickbacks and pushdowns, etc.), Alwyn Cosgrove's exercises are designed for practicality in real life utility. Having the strength to lift heavy things is a reality....hence the value of squats. On the other hand, laying back at an angle on a leg press machine and pressing weights outwards and upwards is not something we would do in real life. He stresses fewer reps with increasingly heavier weights. Strength over endurance. The reasoning behind each exercise is explained, and you need to be willing to do the background reading in this book so you can absorb the logic of the workouts and their design and sequencing. Coming into this book with my previous weightlifting experience, faulty though it was, this program immediately made a whole lot of sense as a truly different approach. I knew all my previous efforts hadn't paid off to my satisfaction, so I was finally ready to try this new approach: Stick mostly to big muscle exercises, no isolation exercises at all, fewer reps, lifting progressively heavier (no "Barbie weights!!"), and LIMITED exercises per workout (usually just 5 exercises), and short but high intensity interval cardio if any at all. (Cardio is not emphasized here). Each workout takes about 30 minutes, ideally done 3 days a week (although two workouts can suffice, but 3 is ideal) requiring at least a day between weight workouts (I generally did Mon-Wed-Fri). I have resisted my previous tendency to "do more", so I've done the workouts strictly as written and haven't added anything additional. I wanted to see what results I would get with the program "as written." And surprise....I've got better, more defined biceps doing pushups, squats and deadlifts (but not a single bicep curl), my quads, glutes and hamstrings are rock hard and strong without any of the hamstring curls, leg extensions, etc. The squats, deadlifts, step-ups, pushups and a few other things have worked wonders in just 4 weeks. In this short time I'm stronger and more defined than I've ever been. I'm really quite amazed.
The program is divided into a number of levels (varying weeks of length per level), with each level having 2 alternating workouts (so you never do the same workout twice in a row--important to prevent plateaus). If you do all the levels and workouts, the whole thing would take about 6 months to finish. --> This is NOT a quick fix, it's steady strength development done realistically over a reasonable time. It requires commitment and a solid determination to follow the program as presented (if you "tweak" it, you're not doing the program). After finishing the program you could then repeat it to hold on to your progress level.
I decided to wait until I was adequately into the program to review it. Now after about 4 weeks, here's my initial opinion: I can already tell this is the BEST program I've ever embarked upon and I'm seeing results already on a level which I never reached previously.....not even after 12 weeks of Body for Life! I've got stronger, more defined biceps than ever before without doing a single bicep curl! Back of the arm flab is gone! Quads are firm without a single leg extension! Squats and Deadlifts are amazing, and those two alone target an incredible number of muscles all at once. My mid section fat is rapidly diminishing, despite a pretty modest amount of ab work (so far in Level 1, only modest reps (2 sets of 15 reps on two stability ball exercises divided between two different workouts: jackknives in one workout, and ball crunches in the other workout, that's it for Level 1). No endless ab work here! After all, most of the OTHER exercises are also working your abs!
I'm incredibly impressed with this program. I can say it is working better for me than the multitiude of other programs I've previously tried in the last 10 years. And I work out far less, usually 3 weight workouts a week (occasionally only 2), with 20 to 30 minute interval cardio (elliptical) usually done after weight workouts or sometimes an interval aerobic workout on days I don't do weights. The max I go to the gym in any week is 4 times. The structure of the program has allowed me to stay very positive and enthusiastic about the program. I really like the full body nature of the workouts (I previously had done upper vs. lower body days), It's nice to have alternating workouts.....not so boring. I like the challenge of gradually increasing the weight on the various exercises. (Note: on this program it's important to keep a record of all workouts). This a program you can sustain forever because it doesn't burn you out mentally or physically--importantly, you are not overexercising to get results. The program can actually be fit into your life quite nicely. I look forward to the workouts! I feel great afterwards!
The book has what appears to be a good nutrition section, although I don't follow it because I have certain dietary restrictions (no gluten grains, for example) that don't fit with the recipes and recommendations. But it looks very solid for most people. I don't consider the nutrition section to be the most important part of the book since at this point in time I've got a very careful nutrition plan that works for me. The nutrition part would be good for someone who has a relatively controlled diet already. It would probably be hard for someone who is a junk food junkie to transition to what is presented here.
Final thoughts about fat loss: This is probably not the book for someone looking to lose 50-100 or more pounds. It's for someone who is probably 30 lbs. or less from goal and who has worked out before, who has a certain level of current fitness, and who is comfortable in the weight room. You need a certain level of independence and self motivation. Having these prerequisites, this book is a wonderful blueprint for getting to your goal, and you will lose that last fat in the process.
The only negative was a tiny bit of vagueness in figuring out the exercise routines. A blank workout sheet is in the book, or you can go to a website and print off a workout sheet, but I didn't like the setup of either of them so I used a spreadsheet program to create my own workout sheets. It took me a bit of time to figure out the Levels/workouts and precisely how they worked (a fully filled out sample would have been nice and would have cleared up this confusion). It's important to record every workout, the weights used, etc. as this is your record of progress. Since you are alternating between two workouts I think it would be difficult to remember what you did/what weights you used previously if you weren't writing it all down. The idea is to consistently challenge yourself with more and more weight (slowly, of course). At the end, it will be nice to see a record of how you got there!
If you are a relative newbie to exercise and are someone who needs to get your diet under control, doing Body for Life would be a very good way to get your diet under control and learn weightlifting basics. After that you might be ready for this program.