New Rules of Lifting: Six Basic Moves for Maximum Muscle,   ISBN:B0029LHWOU

Customer Rating: 

"The New Rules of Lifting", by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove, joins a growing number of research articles and books arguing that the "single body-part per day" workout paradigm should be replaced by whole body workouts structured around compound exercises (e.g., squats, dips, etc.). Empirical data on muscle growth, the real-life need for physical functionality, and common sense, all support this new thrust.

The good news here is that Cosgrove's workouts seem sound enough. That's why I gave this book two stars. The bad news is that, in my view, everything that surrounds that core - the writing, the uninspired lay out, the less-than-clear presentation of the workouts - is below par and off-putting.

Especially the writing. Schuler's prose is rambling, self-absorbed, convoluted, sprinkled with passive-aggressive score-settling against his philosophical opponents, full of failed attempts at humour, and always takes two or three times as many words to make its points as is needed. I have no idea how this guy could have supported himself as a fitness writer for the last twenty years.

Even worse, Schuler at times makes comments calculated, I presume, to build rapport with the audience, but which only lessen confidence in him as an explicator of the science of bodybuilding. At the very least, they sound totally bizarre. Here is just one example of all I've mentioned here. What follows are the very first words of the book:

"Let me tell you about something I invented. I call it 'weight lifting'. Maybe you've heard it called 'strength training', or 'resistance training', or even 'bodybuilding'. But when I made it up in my basement, I called it weight lifting.

"Are your BS detectors buzzing? Good. If they aren't, put in fresh batteries and read that paragraph again.

"I want you to read everything in this book with at least a little skepticism. That may seem like a strange thing to ask of someone who's just paid real money for my book. But it's important, for two reasons:

"1.) If you read the idea that maybe I'm not being completely truthful, you'll read more carefully, and that's exactly what I want.

"2.) Once you've read this with something less than fawning admiration of every sentence my fingers type, you'll be able to read future articles and books with the same raised eyebrow. (Although you'll have to buy my next book, 'The Drooping-Face Curve', to get my exclusive eyebrow-raising exercises".

(From the introduction, page 1X).

I don't know about anyone else, but when I buy a work-out book, I want a clear, concise, science-backed *workout book*, not a bunch of cutesy, clunky riddles, embarrassing attempts at being funny, authorial self-absorption, an almost frantic wordiness, and explicit suggestions that we should adopt a position of mistrust toward what we find inside. And it goes on like this for 300 pages. Schuler mentions on page 93 that he is "not the type to be easily embarrassed". Clearly.

Just in case our confidence isn't deflated enough early on, on Page 13 Schuler makes a "horrible confession about my own ignorance". Evidently, Lou conceived this book around a "brilliant" new idea which he was a "genius" (his [facetious] word) to think of, and which no one in history had ever thought of before: "take every exercise in the gym and look at it in terms of its possible role in human movement". That is, base training in compound movements chosen for their applicability to real world physical function. It took Alwyn Cosgrove to inform Schuler that this idea was not new at all; it had been preached for decades by people like Richard Schmidt and Paul Check. Not only that, but a couple of hours skimming the History Channel or an encyclopedia shows that this common sense approach has guided, say, warrior training for millenia: Romans, Spartans, Samurai, Athenians, gladiators, etc. Duh. It wasn't until the roid doofuses and machine hawkers came around that anyone started yakking about isolated exercises.

As pointed out by another reviewer, another odd moment (page 91) is when Schuler reveals that, although he had already been lifting for fourteen years (see p. xii), he only tried his first squat at the age of 23 (hm). Unfortunately, he lowered his butt all the way to the floor rather than stop when his thighs were parallel to the floor. Lou found this very hard. As a result, he decided not to perform another squat - despite being the editor of Men's Fitness, and despite the squat being almost unanimously recognized as one of the most important exercises there is - until *twelve years later*, in 1996 (again...hm).

A final quibble is that while this book is called "The New Rules of Lifting", there is absolutely nothing new here at all. Lifting progressively heavy weights in compound movements, and varying one's regimen, most likely comprise the oldest weight-training philosophy in existence. Maybe this is unimportant, but I think a more honest title would have been nice, and maybe even catchier.

Anyway, perhaps what matters is the workouts themselves. Unfortunately, the section describing the workouts is rather cumbersome, and could have used a keen graphic eye for layout and a keen editorial eye for intelligibility. That said, no doubt they work - after all, *every* resistance training program works, in the sense that if you progressively challenge your muscles, they respond by growing stronger. But why struggle along with this book, when there are other, better books out there, espousing the same philosophy?

Two I would recommend are "Power Training" by Robert dos Remedios, and "Huge in a Hurry" by Chad Waterbury.

Good luck. I hope this review helped someone.

Customer Rating: 

The book is fairly good although I got some new infos, and btw I don't know wither its right or just an imaginations? Something like "people thinks that cardio burns fat while body building don't and it builds muscle" and then he goes "when people do weight lifting every other day and the next day he do cardio, then the body will adopt the cardio and your figure goes and lean to runners and endurance figure" plus I loved the book when he goes like "you don't have to lose weight and become lean by doing cardio, you can cut it off and do this cardio training created by Alwyn" which is the HIIT schedule but with few changes I guess!! Also I hated few other workouts I don't know if it was an imaginative or true like the Barbell push press (I guess it's right) and stuff like that. Truly I'm not a FAN of weight lifting but who doesn't want to have good figures as we see on magazines and TV. You know from the first time I read this book I felt anxious and when I trained in I felt miserable I don't know I kept on reading here and there but didn't feel it straight forward with a little misleading workout writings and specially the long resting period when it goes superset, HOW COME? and do you know what I HATE much (as he said he don't do it all though); the worm up routine, IMAGIN that you have to do 3 warm-ups routines that cost you about 30 minutes to do a workout of 20 minutes to 30 minutes ONLY !! And that workout is EXACTLY for the beginners (what if you become experienced after a while??), the experienced you become the MORE worm ups you have to do. That's beside words words, words, and a lot of words. I've read few books that define a real good science and workout specially "LL cool J workout book" and "get buffed" by Ian king, plus I've read "burn the fat, feed the muscle" e-book, and BELIEVE me tom writes MORE words than this guy, so if you are into TALK and LISTEN books then go for this guy and tom venuto too (although you can get real good info from tom that is very good, but MAN he writes TOO MUCH).

Customer Rating: 

I have been lifting weights for a number of years, starting in high school 30+ years ago. I had basically stagnated to the point where it was no fun and the results were non-existent. I read the aforementioned book and it has changed the entire dynamics of my lifting experience. At nearly 50 years old, I am seeing results that I never expected to see again. This book is a simple step-by-step instruction manual that not only tells you how to lift, but also why to lift, what to eat, and how it all works together. The programs that the authors have put together are year long and with a little modification, can be used indefinitely. An absolute must-read for beginner, intermediate, or advanced weightlifter.

Customer Rating: 

This book is well written. There are lots of refences to prove the points made are factual and not selling some kind of a product. The routines are well thought out. There are not tons of pictures. Rather, focus is on giving you information so you can improve, alter, adjust your routines to match your own body and goals. I have other books from the same publisher, but this book is clearly the best for effective routines and clear, concise explanations. There is a lot here for begginers, and for experienced lifters, a refreshing new way to get good results without wasting time and effort. One thing I greatly enjoyed was that there were very few painfully stupid one-liners. Usually muscle books contain all muscle, no IQ. This book is definately different and I love it. It works. I am loving the pain it gives me, because it is making me look better week in and week out.

Customer Rating: 

I read this book from cover to cover and will probably read it a few more times... This book is fantastic!.. I've been lifting for over a decade and didn't really know what I was doing until reading this book.. If you carefully do the programs in the book they work!! They are also hard! I've been doing the same old routines for years but this book gave me new insights and great routines and even though i've been lifting for a long time these new routines are extremely challenging.. A few important points that I gathered from this book are the following:
1. The importance for men to workout their legs.. and why it is important..
2. Coordinated natural movement beats gym machine movement(and this is true and makes sense)
3. Your muscles want to grow in proportion to eachother
4. Riding energy flux..
5. The importance of not letting your body get too used to a routine etc..

The author wrote the book in a very accessible way and I was laughing out-loud at certain points in the book.. Altogether a very solid read and a valuable resource to anyone wanting to learn the science behind lifting without having to get too far into the actual science itself.. More like.. 'this works.. this is why.. just do it'..
I LOVE THIS BOOK!...