Product Description

A revolutionary method of weight lifting using today's science for maximum results.

In The New Rules of Lifting, fitness guru Lou Schuler and strength-training expert Alwyn Cosgrove boil down the most recent findings on weight lifting and fitness to create a program of workouts that focuses on the movements at which the body naturally excels. These six "real-life" movements-squat, bend, lunge, push, pull, and twist-compose three complete programs for three distinct goals: fat loss, muscle gain, and strength improvement.

At home or at the gym, these routines can be mixed and matched for a year's worth of workouts that will keep boredom at bay and lifters challenged long after most plans have called it quits. And while coordinated, useful muscles will always turn heads at the beach, they'll also help you live better and longer. Besides providing comprehensive workout programs, The New Rules of Lifting covers much-needed background on aspects of lifting that are often overlooked, like warming up, nutrition, and meal planning. Throughout, Schuler and Cosgrove debunk strength-training myths, troubleshoot dangerous pitfalls, and clearly illustrate moves with black-and-white photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2635 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

About the Author
Lou Schuler is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist and certified strength and conditioning specialist whose work has appeared in Men's Fitness, Men's Health, Men's Journal, and other magazines. He has written three popular diet and strength-training books.

Alwyn Cosgrove is a columnist for Men's Fitness and a highly respected strength and conditioning coach. He has worked with Olympic and national-level athletes, five World Champions, and professionals in many sports.

Customer Reviews

LIFT WEIGHTS!!!
I recently bought their other book "New Rules of Lifting for Women" and decided that I needed this one as well since I am a Personal Trainer. I like how they bring it back down to the basic classics that have worked for centuries. Power lifting is the original functional training. And with all these crazy fads its nice to see some good common sense advice. These moves maybe classics but they are combined with modern knowledge to show why they are effective and how this kind of lifting is best.

nothing more than a set of workouts
I may be biased because I bought it expecting it to be something other than what it turned out to be, but this is the first strength training book I have ever actually purchased, and I will definitely be more hesitant before buying another one. I thought this book was going to be a textbook introduction to basics-first training. that it definitely is not. if you like chatty writing, you might like his writing style. personally, I find it annoying when I have to wade through ten pages of witty asides to get a paragraphs worth of information. if you are a complete beginner you might get something out of the first couple chapters, but you could read all that stuff[...].

about halfway into the book, schuler says "really I could just stop now and give you the workouts that my co-author came up with, but then you would be disappointed because you thought you were buying a book." the truth is, that's basically what he did. aside from the several dozen workouts, the book is worthless.

schuler is a magazine writer and it shows. the book has all the showboating, flare and lack of substance of a men's journal article. he also shows a blindness to the niceties of scientific research that is so typical of magazine writers.

the chapters on "diet" and "technique" (which contain only two things that actually resemble techniques) are nothing more than whimsical justifications of schuler's biases on certain subjects, backed up with references to studies whose flaws are evident just from schuler's explanations. one study, which forms the basis for shculer's entire argument about cardio, exclusively used men from a rural welsh village as subjects. nevermind the hundreds of other studies about cardio, done with proper controls, that contradict schuler's pet peeve. in the section on diet, we are told that diet soda must be okay for you because the author drinks so much of it, and that ice cream is okay because it has milk in it.

despite schuler's assurance that his book will teach us proper lifting form, that subject, which should form the basis of the book, is consigned to a few pages in the exercise section. and they are far from perfect. the guy in the squat photos is holding the bar wrong, doesn't have his feet turned out enough, and has his neck hyperextended. the deadlift sections doesn't explain that you are supposed to keep the bar within an inch of your shins once you start the lift. the section on lunges doesn't tell you how widely spaced your feet should be, or what the angle of your torso should be in the lower position.

the lack of discussion of proper form combined with the variety of exercises seems tantamount to an encouraging beginning lifters to go out and try anything they read about regardless of whether they understand the physics or body mechanics involved. and for a book supposedly about "basics first' training, some of the lifts are dangerous in the extreme (e.g. standing row, quarter squat), arcane (e.g. towel biceps curl, barbell reverse-grip bent-over row), or even downright silly (e.g. "bulgarian split deadlift," mixed grip lat pull).

I'm sorry but I don't believe it's necessary for beginners, or anyone, to learn all these different movements. perfecting just the squat and the bench press could keep you busy for years.

since the workouts are the only real content in this book, they must be the bottom line in determining the books value. but I don't really know how to rate them. I am not a strength training expert and I haven't done them. what I do know is that I am not going to spend a year of my life finding out whether they are as pointless as the rest of this book.

Recommended for the 'General Fitness' crowd
PRO:
This book covers pretty much everything any casual gym enthusiast could want to know about training. It includes sample programs for gaining muscle, losing fat and getting stronger, as well as nutritional information to help you accomplish these goals, and exercise illustrations.

In a nutshell the authors' message is that you can train your entire body using 6 basic movements: Pushing, Pulling, Twisting, Squatting, Dead lifting and Lunging. For each of these basic movements there are several variations, but they are almost exclusively "compound exercises" (meaning multi-joint exercises) which are time efficient and allow you to use many different muscles with few exercises.

Also:
-The nutritional information is solid but relatively basic (they don't go into some of the fancier topics like calorie or carbohydrate cycling; nor do they discuss contest preparation if that stuff interests you)

-Exercise illustrations are sufficient and don't consume the majority of the book's pages like many fitness books do.

CON:
By far the biggest drawback to this book is that you probably won't be able to follow the programs specifically as written if you train at a busy commercial gym. I would say that about +90% of the sets listed in the programs have you alternating between at least two (sometimes four) exercises. For example: Squats with Bench Press, or Shoulder Press with Cable Rows. While the reasons for the pairings are sound (time management, longer rest periods compared to straight sets, improved conditioning from dense workouts) I think they fall under the category of "Fitness Porn Fantasy". One of the two authors owns a gym which I'm certain he's designed to accommodate this style of training and, I'm guessing, probably most of the folks who train there must follow similar programs which could make them more understanding of the equipment hogging this program requires; but of the 6 gyms I've trained at over the years I think it would be very difficult, or at the very least stressful, to pull off.

Also:
- The exercise descriptions that accompany the pictures are somewhat bare bones.

- If you like a lot of single joint exercises like bicep curls, triceps cable extensions, or calve raises; you'll be disappointed with the programs because they are essentially void of them.

TARGET AUDIENCE:
-Anyone looking to improve their general fitness, increase lean body mass and reduce body fat; but aren't looking to become bodybuilders.
-Anyone with 45-75 minutes to train 3-4 times per week
-And preferably anyone who trains in an empty gym.