The New Rules – For Women
I’ll admit it, reading about nutrition and exercise for optimizing body composition gets me worked up. (I know, maybe it’s a weird fetish and maybe I need help. But either way, it’s what I’m all about. So take it or leave it.)
Now, although I fetish over nutrition and exercise books, combine such a book with my other fetish – female fitness gurus – and I’m downright incorrigible. So that’s why when I asked JB if I could interview Cassandra Forsythe, one of the authors of The New Rules of Lifting For Women, he politely told me to back off. (It’s probably for the best. After all, I could never get Cass to return any of my calls anyway. I wonder if it was the heavy breathing…)
But I’ll take what I can get – instead of an interview, I convinced JB to at least let me review the book. So here’s my take on The New Rules of Lifting – For Women.
Going into this book I had a lot of faith that it would be an excellent read, jam-packed with applicable training and nutrition info for women. Why was I so confident? Well, I’m a big fan of Cass, Lou, and Alwyn’s work as they’re all straight-talking, no nonsense experts – kind of like us here at PN. And that makes them a-OK in our book.
Further, I really liked The New Rules of Lifting for Men. So why would The New Rules of Lifting for Women be any different? Well…boy…I was wrong. This book really sucked…No, no, no…I’m just kidding. Actually, the book was great. And here’s why.
Part 1
The first part of the book gives a general introduction and discusses both the similarities and differences between men’s and women’s bodies as they relate to weight training. Why the compare/contrast? Well, the point is to demonstrate that women really should be training more like men.
And I completely agree. Schuler indicates that every time he walks into a weight room, he sees women doing things that nobody would ever recommend if they happened to be male. According to Schuler:
“Forget your fears of bulking up, unless you have the DNA of a gladiator, strength training will help to slim you down rather than hulk you up.”
For what it’s worth, I often compare a female who worries about getting bulky from lifting weights to me worrying about turning into Tiger Woods from playing golf. Translation = not happening.
In part one, the authors also discuss and debunk a few common myths.
Myth #1 – some women gain muscle mass very quickly when starting to weight train.
Reality – Women often mistake the temporary muscle pump after workouts for a gain in actual muscle mass. This is not the case.
Myth #2 – Toning. That’s right – that’s a junk word. There’s no such thing as toning.
Reality – Toning doesn’t happen. You have to lose fat and gain muscle. That’s what gives what you’re calling “the toned look.”
Part one also goes onto describe that you have to work hard at strength training to get results. Sound elementary? Well, the authors point out that the amount of focus and intensity many women commit to spinning, stepping, and stretching is admirable – but then they get in the weight room and set up camp next to the neon pink hand weights.
Hmmm, that might not do much for you.
Finally, the end of part one dives into the wild world of aerobic work. The authors state that the amount of fat you burn during exercise matters less than the amount you burn when you aren’t exercising. That leads nicely into “metabolic perturbation.” AKA, shaking things up. The authors claim that this is very important to achieving optimal body composition, as “exercise intensity can “outwit” genetics.”
Part 2
Part two is all about nutrition. Indeed, this section is well-laid out, covering calorie needs, macronutrient needs, and more for women. Further, it’s where you will find recipes and meal templates galore. (They’re categorized into the time of day to be consumed and all fit in nicely with the Precision Nutrition style of eating.)
Overall, however, this chapter left me with one major thought – girls, drastically cutting calories is bad. I should make you gals write that on the chalkboard 100x. Drastically cutting calories is bad. (Of course, Cassandra does a better job of explaining it than I just did. Hum…maybe I can get an interview going and she can tell me all about it?!? Come on, JB, I promise to behave!)
I also like the protein discussion. Get this:
“What protein is to nutrition, black is to fashion.”
Say what? Well, part two covers it. (I can’t spill the beans entirely, now can I?) Now, with respect to protein intake, one of my favorite parts of this book (and maybe of all time) was the analogy made about minimal protein needs and meeting the “minimal needs” in others areas of life.
“If you took the anti-protein argument to other areas of your life, and defined “need” as the bare minimum for survival, you’d quit your job (you don’t need to work that hard to afford enough food to keep from starving), you’d move out of your house and into your storage shed (all you need is protection from the elements), you’d throw out all your possessions aside from one set of clothes (you can only wear one set at a time, so why have more?), and of course you’d only eat enough food to avoid starvation – which works out nicely, since that’s all you can afford now.”
Way to go, Cass.
Also with respect to protein intake, I really like the point made about soy protein (and any other plant proteins) being a fine substitute for animal protein when someone has altered their nutrition for moral/religious reasons. Big deal you say?
Well, believe it or not, many nutrition/fitness writers neglect to even address this topic. However, discussing it can be accommodating for the vegetarian segment of the population. In the end, the nutrition section is solid – but you’d expect that we’d feel this way. Indeed, the advice in this book and PN share a lot of common ground.
So, pretty much, the NROL for Women diet plan is very similar to what you might end up with in following the PN program. If you’re a girl and you’re following either plan, good on ya. You’re on the right track!
Part 3
While part 1 goes over all that cool female-specific stuff and part 2 goes over the nutrition, part 3 is all about training. And the info is solid. Of course, me being me, I always feel warm and fuzzy inside when I get done reading about how strength training should actually be done – you know, if you want results and stuff.
So, if you’ve hit a rut with your program – or just want a fresh perspective – this book is pure gold when it comes to training routines! 6 months of varied routines are provided (up to about 8 months if you’re a beginner). A full explanation (and pictures) of each exercise is included. And the exercise explanations are chased with a primer on dynamic warm-ups – a must for any intense exerciser.
Now, what if you’re into yoga, pilates, spinning, kickboxing, endurance work, intervals, etc? Well, Chapter 12 gives you all sorts of ideas on how schedule accordingly (a sample template is even provided).
For my money, I really liked this section. Why? Because I am ALWAYS getting questions from clients on how to schedule different physical activities over the course of a week. And few authors really cover this well.
Final thoughts
For the price of admission (about 17 bucks) this book is a great addition to your library – whether you’re a girl or whether you just like looking at girls.
The book annihilates many of the fitness myths aimed at women; the nutrition advice is very much a synopsis of what we teach to our Level 1 and 2 nutrition clients, and the training advice is designed to get you girls results – fast.
Now, alpha male, I’m guessing you don’t think you can learn anything from this book. Am I right? Well guess what – they made the workout programs more intense in this book than the previous “New Rules” book – for men. So load that on your barbell and lift it.
In the end, this book is a quick read and is extremely entertaining and humorous. The authors mix scientifically backed information with real world application. In fact, the only major bummer related to this book was that they didn’t ask me to help write it. Maybe next time?
Cass? Call me?
