The New Rules of Lifting for Abs: A Myth-Busting Fitness Plan for Men and Women who Want a Strong Core and a Pain- Free Back Paperback – Illustrated, January 3, 2012

There are a million exercise books out there and everybody is an expert, so what's a mother to do when it comes to choosing an exercise program?Here are a few "rules"1 Do something2 Do something you like3 All the rest is just detailsNew Rules of lifting for Abs fills in the details. Lou writes in an interesting, witty and information packed format, and is a welcome addition to the "New Rules" series. This book speaks to a newly emphasized aspect of weight training namely core training. The book also speaks to another newly emphasized aspect of exercise namely metabolic training. I started lifting about 45 years ago when I joined the wrestling team in High School. Our coach was a Olympic wrestler and competed internationally all through the years I was on his team. We basically trained like he did. We lifted weights, we did push ups, we did pull ups, dips etc (strength training) we did tons and tons of wind sprints (metabolic training) We ran some miles (cardio) and we scrimmaged with guys bigger than ourselves (maybe the best damn core training ever). Nothing changes but the date. Every year I was engaged in wrestling season I was in the best shape of my life. This book has all the old concepts in new clothes.The book is designed to get you through some pretty intense workouts. Rule 11 from the first book (NROL): You'll get better results working your ass off on a bad program than you will loafing through a good programThis book gives you the advantage of working your ass off (literally) with a good program. Over the years I have tried dozens of "programs" purchased scores of books and I have employed several "trainers" and have seen mixed results from all this effort. With Alwyn Cosgrove's programs I have seen excellent results. I have been through the first NROL program 2 1/2 times in the past 3 or so years. I have added muscle, lost weight, and gained strength, and even though I'm an ugly old buzzard, I get compliments at how well I look. Alwyn's programs have several advantages:1 They are eminently do-able regardless of your expertise or the shape you are in. You start with what you got, work your ass off, and pretty soon you got more than what you started with. It doesn't matter if you are a novice or Russel the Muscle, there is gain to be had from this program if you engage it. The second time through you will be stronger and better trained and the program will take on a new character of challenge because you are better able to perform and engage the exercise. It's a very satisfying experience. Initially the exercise will master you, then you will master it. Very Zen. As your body changes you will gain experiential wisdom. As you gain wisdom You will be able to feel yourself doing better and come to a better knowledge of yourself. My guess it is something like this that keeps people going to Yoga class or acquiring belt after belt in martial arts.2 The workouts are compact. Alwyn's idea is to use movements that engage large groups of muscles instead of isolating single muscles. In a few movements he covers your whole body, but especially targets the core. You can do 3 heavy duty workouts a week or if you like you can add some light duty workouts on the days between. Typically a workout lasts 30-40 minutes and the rest intervals are timed.3 The workouts are safe. This is a prime consideration given the proliferation of new fangled exercise gizmos and techniques. About 3 years ago I blew out 3 disks doing reverse crunches on a Swiss ball. I got the exercise from watching some joker on youtube. It was this experience (and the 6 months I spent in rehab) that made me stop doing my own thing and look for a program from someone smarter than me. Alwyn's workouts fit that bill. If I had been doing Alwyn's program instead of watching some muscle head on youtube, I never would have blown out my back. One of the major points of the abs book's workouts are to help you develop the muscles that protect your spine. This aspect is now at the top of my list when I look at any program due to my experience, and it is something to think about when you are considering a program or choose to do your own thing. There be danger out there matey and you have to live with the damage until you die if you injure yourself!!4 You don't have to know what you are doing. You just follow the program. All of the exercises are integrated and fulfill a purpose both in the present workout and in training for what comes next. Phase 1 will equip you with the skills and strength to lead you into phase 2 which is more advanced etc. Each step of the way has many exercises that get substituted in and out of the routine so you are always doing something a little bit different. This allows for muscles to recover. If you are always banging away at the same exact movement eventually something is going to break down. If you add variety to the movements, to how the movements are performed, to the reps, to the number of sets and to the weight lifted your body responds to that in a way that tends to prevent injury. The variety of the program gets you stronger in a more balanced way while aiming to avoid overuse injury.5 The program adds mobility exercises and metabolic exercises to the mix. This allows you to get stronger while getting more agile as well. This carries over to every other sport you may engage, and is a prime consideration in not getting injured while increasing your performance. I had a friend who was a runner. She took a year off running and engaged in strength training and core work. She was challenged to see how her running performance had changed and despite not running for a year her performance was better.6 The program addresses an appropriate fitness diet and lifestyle, and how to "think" about a fitness diet. The point of lifting weights is to get stronger. Poor nutrition, poor lifestyle and poor sleep will kill this goal dead in its tracks. The book does not give you specific meals, it rather gives you a way to think about food as a basic ingredient in the mix that will make you stronger and how to adjust exactly what you put in your pie hole. The main thing you need to eat if you want to get strong is protein in an adequate amount, so the diet is keyed around protein intake and how much is enough. Next is to consider calories. Not too few, not too many. You can't be anabolic (adding muscle) and catabolic (starvation mode) at the same time. The book goes into how to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat and how often. It goes into some of the latest thinking about carb cycling as well.One of the rules is: You can't out exercise a hunger inducing lifestyle, meaning your inputs have to be in balance and coordinated if you expect to see a positive result.Another rule is: You can sleep your way into a better body...or not sleep your way into a bigger belly This issue here is stress and stress management. If you allow your hormonal environment to be ruled by your stress hormones success will be hard to achieve.The program also addresses how to integrate these modules and phases into other programs in which you may be engaged. I am presently engaged in the strength part of New Rules of Lifting (NROL), but I have added some of the metabolic and mobility aspects of NROLAbs especially to my present regimen There is a lot of experience to be mined and its a great way to add variety if you already are "Doing Something".The book looks into how you might like to engage the exercises. You don't have to be tied to a commercial gym It gives advice on economically setting up a home gym using things like suspension straps, exercise bands, dumbbells, Swiss balls, and kettle bells to do the workouts. For a couple hundred to a few hundred bucks you can get a very long way down the road to a high degree of core strength and over all health while loosing the lard, and never leave the comfort of your own home. This is a great boon to those of us that don't have the time to drive to the gym or wait in line to access the equipment, or may have little kids or may have odd hours available to you for working out. I have a home gym and I wouldn't have it any other way. At nine o'clock at night after a brutal day I love being able to just step out into my weight room and start working out. It eliminates so many of the barriers to sticking to the program. No way at 9 at night am I driving half an hour to the gym. Over the years you can add equipment very economically by looking for steals off craigslist.Recall:Do somethingDo something you likeAll the rest is just detailsYou'll get better results working your ass off on a bad program than you will loafing through a good programTo this list I will add BUY THIS BOOK, DO THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL HAVE THE REWARD OF WORKING YOUR ASS OFF IN A GOOD PROGRAMThis book adds to the knowledge of the other two books. Together they make a useful library on lifting and weight training and related studies on exercise physiology, kinesiology and diet. They take into account state of the art information and update the exercises according to the best available data. For example some of the tried and true exercises (like crunches and reverse crunches) have been removed from the line up based on new information on exercises that are more effective but protect spine by Dr. McGill. Even though this book is new to the market I have done many of these exercises in my back rehab over the past few years. I have had suspension straps and Valslides for several years and I used them along with planks and T pushups and other body weight core exercises in my rehab program. (I forced my PT to be very aggressive with me and he complied and I learned a lot about what I needed to recover) This book takes many of those exercises to another dimension for me because they are now tied up in a coordinated program.I am a physician and I recommend these books to patients and friends who ask me "what should I do". They are often runners or others who are injured refugees from overindulgence on endurance exercises. They have used miles and miles to keep off the pounds, but no longer can engage in miles and miles due to injury. My experience is everyone of them who bought the books and actually did the program had success and no one came up injured from doing the program, in fact most were able successfully rehab some ailment using these programs. Some are not back to running but they are back to an active lifestyle and were able to maintain their weight. Some have gone on to PR in their sport of choice. I'm not saying this is the "best". I'm sure there are other programs that will make you more cut, or bring out every millimeter on all three heads of your triceps, or make that rhomboidius stick out like a grapefruit, but for me I am not interested in that. I am interested in being stronger, engaging my body with my will and maintaining some level of fitness as I slide into old age. These New Rules books do the trick for me.

Pros:I have tried stage 1, 2 and 3, and then repeated those stages for a whole year.This book does not teach many traditional forms of movement, like bicep curls, or tricep raises. In fact, like the advertisements say, they don't teach any ab work out. The reason for this is to get the body conditioned to be improved in a very natural way. Throughout the book you will read their reasoning and understanding to the point that you will be convinced that it makes logical sense.The authors of the book focuses on stability and endurance during the workout. You are not required to lift amazing amounts of weights since the exercises can be quite difficult in its own right. For example, a few exercises require you to raise one dumbbell ten pounds heavier than the other side to improve muscles that help stabilize your core. The biggest exercises mentioned are the squats and dead lifts, and variations of those. By improving your lower body, you're working from the bottom to the top. Improving our core is the central part of what we do day to day.For example, getting up from a chair, you can see the different mechanics of your body moving. You can pay attention to how your body lifts itself up as different parts of your muscles are there to support your body weight from a seated position to a standing position. This book actually helps out making simple motions and every day things much much easier. My legs are stronger, my abs are crazy strong, and even though I never did any bicep curls, my biceps became bigger from the natural exercises performed in this book.That is why I give this book a five star rating. I will continue using this book for the next 2 years (when my gym contract expires). I improved my plank from 45 seconds to 2 mins.I do also want to point out that the amazing thing about how our core is vital to any other part of our system, is how the core helps improve muscles from our chest, to bicep, to our legs. When we get older and older, our core is what will help us perform those same very mechanics. Without it, we will have trouble walking, picking up things, and even standing. I'm very happy that this is the point the book is trying to help out with. The exercises are amazing and well though out.Cons:All the things I dislike about this book will not reflect the 5 star review. The reason why is to prevent any discouragement from buying this book and trying it out yourself. Plus I feel these cons are minor to the pros I mentioned.PROBLEM 1: The main problem I experienced is there is no improvement in stamina. Workout will take about an hour each time. However, the workouts are every other day, either 2 times a week, or 3 times a week. The authors are too easy going and flexible with the fact that you can pick and choose however you want in order to fit your working busy schedule. Each progressing stage, especially stage 3 is focused on improving stamina. But to be honest, the 10 mins, (do as many sets as possible, rest as little as possible) is a failure for me. I did not notice any improvements and I'm always gasping for air regardless of how much weights is used. In fact, it made me feel like skipping this stage, but I persisted. I treated those exercises with rest for a minute in between "alternating sets" (described by the book). By ignoring the book and resting for a min, I started to enjoy this stage again.They do mention that we should be doing exercises everyday to keep ourselves conditioned. But the problem is, there isn't much focus or discussion about that. For a whole year, I've been breathing very hard at the end, sweating excessively, and tired with no improvement of my cardio. Though I have gotten stronger and muscular, the fat content and cardio condition remained the same. I recently purchased the insanity work out to improve that stamina, so in the next year, I will write a review on that work out as well as update this review.I do like to mention though that there is a whole dieting routine and research provided for how to eat properly, what supplements to take, and the timing to eat/take supplements.PROBLEM 2: is the black and white photos. Sometimes the person in the photos is wearing black trunks, so its sometimes hard to see different perspectives of the exercises performed.PROBLEM 3: Workout routine can be a bit excessive. This actually coincides with problem 1. At the very end of my work out, I am breathing very hard already, and very tired, but I am required to do some interval training (burpees) at the end, building up from 10 mins to 20 mins by the end of the month. Sometimes I feel workouts can be a bit overboard, and I just skip those workouts.So in summary, this book is excellent for muscle strength and balance, but not for endurance and stamina..I weighed 215 lbs starting, now I weight 230 lbs. Same pants size, but my mobility is smooth, and everything I do is much easier to perform. 2 years ago, I was 230 lbs, and I was really slow at doing things. I looked fat, I had a larger pant size, and it was tough standing from a seated position. So there is a huge difference between the 230 now and the 230 two years ago. I think I gained the 15lbs from muscle since more and more people started commenting on my physique, and I really do notice a huge change in my body for the positive. I still need to lose fat weight though, hope the insanity work out can help me out :)

Love these books, I have the whole series!

Hi great book, love that it focuses on a strong core rather than pop-out-abs. Anyway I agree whole heartedly with all other positive reviews, some fitness books you come away from feeling straight jacketed, this one left me feeling empowered. The main reason I'm writing this review is though in reply to the last review written which stated that the tables on a kindle were impossible to read. I hesitated over buying it because of this review but the immediacy of kindle downloads won me over (yes I'm impatient!) I'm glad it did as the tables read fine on the kindle app on my nexus (android) tablet. I've also just checked on my proper kindle and the tables are also readable on there, slightly fainter but readable. Anyway, hope that clarifies it for those of you hesitating like I did, I know I was concerned. Anyway cheers, enjoy those abs!.

I have been using another of their books, The New Rules of Lifting for Women, for the last few years. It is also a really great book, and I love it, but sometimes you just fancy a change. This book is even better - it is a similar format to before, where they lay out the workouts for you and take you through each exercise with photographs. It definitely works the core more than the workouts in the previous book, as it should do given it's title. Both books take you through the theory behind the workout and diet. I now have two great books to go to for workout ideas.

Concise, easy-to-follow directions for the exercises. Writing is professional, not dry reading.

This is not another "six-pack in six weeks" book; nor does it promise results for not too much effort. In fact it doesn't promise a six-pack. Unusually it works the back muscles such as the lats, so that there isn't an imbalance with over-developed abbs. This is about developing a strong core with mobility and, it works a lot of the major muscle groups on the way so expect: lunges, inverted rows, kneeling lat pull-downs as well as elevated side planks and Turkish Get Ups. You can do the exercises in the gym or at home, but your home equipment needs to include resistance bands, Fit Ball, dumbbells, barbell, and a good range of weight discs. You'll probably find that the typical city centre gym at peak times leaves little space for the dynamic warm-up exercises and the "Alligator Drag", so for me it'll be 5 minute warm-up on a rowing machine. The work outs in the book are similar to the type and severity that a good personal trainer would give you - my PT would love them - so you do need to have done some training before embarking on them. The advanced core stabilisation exercises are 'interesting' in themselves before moving onto the strength section. Whether you follow the work outs exactly or knit some of the elements within your own work outs you will find benefits, just don't expect results without the sweat.Some of the exercises in the "The New Rules Of Lifting For Abbs" need Valslides or an alternative [such as Gliders]. Waxman Super Sliders 9.5" x 5.75" are a cheaper and great alternative for exercise on carpet. One side to slide on the carpet is smooth plastic, and the backing is dense closed cell foam. The pack contains four sliders and the size is big enough for your hands or your feet. I ordered mine from Amazon.com in the States. They took six days to be delivered from the day of ordering, they billed me in pounds sterling, and the price including expedited delivery was less than £15.