Book Review: The New Rules of Lifting for Women

[gchick]

The New Rules of Lifting for Women is a followup to the very well-respected book The New Rules of Lifting by the muscle writing guy Lou Schuler and the strength and conditioning coach Alwyn Cosgrove. For the second book, they've added the sports nutritionist Cassandra Forsythe to the team, and included a full eating plan to the book. Schuler is the main writerly voice; he's a little too addicted to corny jokes and has a long history of writing books that reference testosterone a lot, but he seems to have genuinely grokked the fact that women deserve serious strength training too, and -- unlike what a lot of people have proposed -- should train just like men. (Ironically, this suggests that there shouldn't be a need for this particular book at all, but do I even have to say how far we are from getting there?)

( The rules of lifting, let me show you (a small sample of) them. )

Is too much. Let me sum up.

A really very good book, especially for people who are just getting started with lifting. I've been going around and recommending it to everyone including dudes, and not only for the look on their faces when I recommend a Lady Book because the workouts are harder than in the original version. My biggest regret, looking ahead to a magic fantasy world in which I actually finish things, is that the program is a 6-month run rather than something that can be an ongoing routine afterwards, but the habits and skills should be sustainable, as the eating plan is designed to be. Or if not, they're working on another book.