New Rules of LIfting for Women

I read this book a while ago called New Rules of Lifting for Women.  I quite liked it, because it has tons of nutritional information, as well as workout programs and recipes.  Now I know there are lots of books out there structured in similar ways, but I liked that this book focuses on the importance of weight training for women.

I do believe that most women do not lift heavy enough weights, if any at all.  And it becomes more and more important as we age and start to lose bone density.  Most women are afraid of being bulky, in fact somebody at the gym just told me this exact thing today.  But they don't realize how hard it is to actually gain muscle, especially for women.  And muscles burn fat, for hours after the workout!  I actually wish I had more muscles, and I try lifting heavy every time I go to the gym.  But I think my genetics is especially bad for muscle building or something because it is extremely hard for me to get definition.  

This book actually says that cardio is not needed at all in order to burn fat, all you have to do is to lift heavy weights.  I understand the science behind that theory, and that sometimes too much cardio makes you lose muscles.  But I still have trouble not doing any cardio, maybe it's because it's been so ingrained into our minds that cardio = weight loss.  So I do both, and of course there are benefits in doing cardio as well since after all it is working the most important muscle in the body - the heart.  

The nutrition part of the book is very good, and written in a way that is no non-sense and easy to understand.  I read about nutrition all the time, so I have heard most of what's in this book, but I think it would be very beneficial for many people.  It tells you not to be afraid of carbs.  =)

Anyway, all this stuff is written in pretty good detail in the book.  I have to say that I agree 100% with the authors' view point.  Nothing in this book talks about any magical diet or workout program that can give you instant results.  It's just all hard work and discipline!  No short cuts, just helpful facts!

I also did some of the weight programs and found the first few on the easy side.  But I guess that's to be expected since it's meant to be the beginning of the program.  Then it got tougher, but I kind of fell off the wagon and stopped doing it.  So I will have to get back into it, and can't speak too much about it now.

Anyways, I just thought I'd share this little book.  It's a pretty quick read, and has tons of good info!  Not to mention some simple and good recipes too.  So check it out if you are in the market for something like this!