Good news - JP Fitness Forums

Lou Schuler · 07-01-2006, 06:58 AM

We finalized a deal this week for a follow-up book, a kind of New Rules of Lifting for Women, although that won't be the title.

We're going with the same editor and publisher, which I'm very happy about.

This time, Alwyn and I have a new coauthor, Cassandra Forsythe, who is a Ph.D. student of Jeff Volek's at the U. of Connecticut. (Jeff designed the diet for Testosterone Advantage Plan.)

Because I've always written for men's magazines, I had never paid much attention to the type of advice women get from their books and magazines. But when I started to look closely at it, I was stunned.

The research shows pretty clearly that women should do the same types of routines as men, and that they get the same benefits, proportional to where they started. All the top strength coaches know this, and train their female athletes accordingly. For example, in Core Performance, you'll see references to male and female athletes, but nowhere does Mark Verstegen differentiate between their workouts.

Alwyn and I have talked and emailed about this frequently. He and Rachel train male and female clients more or less the same way; the modifications they make from one client to the next are specific to that client but rarely to that client's gender.

But you'll never pick up a women's magazine or workout book and see workouts like the ones we use in our books, or that we used to run in MH. You'll never see periodization, or any kind of emphasis on strength development. The state of the art reminds me of where we were in the late '90s with the workouts in men's magazines, and in the workout books being published back then. It's all about the magic bullet, the single exercise or routine that's going to fix everything, with no mention of the importance of committing to a program and making progressive improvements in physical performance as the key to improvements in physical appearance.

My thinking, when I started writing the proposal, was that if all of us in the fitness biz know that women aren't a separate species whose muscles magically circumvent all the known parameters of strength and conditioning, why isn't anyone telling them what we know? Why do all of us sit back and ignore the total bullshit that appears in books and magazines without refuting it?

So this is the book where Alwyn, Cass, and I will set out to explain and promote the current state of the art in training science and practice. Why should guys get all the good information and advice?

There's no publication date set; the editor and I have discussed fall '07 and January '08 as possibilities. I'll keep you updated as we move forward.

cappuccino · 07-01-2006, 07:01 AM

Great news! I'm glad it's official.

Last night at the gym I saw a bunch of dancers lifting soup cans. They were slender, but not necessarily lean, and surely could've handled more weight than they were using.

Let me know if you need a guinea pig on the program

Iamjennmedic · 07-01-2006, 09:08 AM

This awesome news. Huge thank you to all of you, its about time that something like this was done. I hope that this changes the way people look at those women who train hard to a higher level of respect

I can't wait to see the book when it comes out. This is a huge service to women everywhere

Awesome! Big Thanks to you all.

Kevin Larrabee · 07-01-2006, 09:35 AM

Thats great Lou,

John and I were very excited when you talked about it on the FitCast. I hope you can come back on and talk about it when it comes out!

OldGuy · 07-01-2006, 09:54 AM

Very cool, Lou. I've read a few of Cassandra's articles over on Berardi's site. Good stuff. Cassandra, Alwyn and yourself is going to be a winning combination. Best of luck with it.

Lost Dog · 07-01-2006, 11:11 AM

Congratulations, Lou!

Pull that January '08 back to December '07, so men can give it as gifts to women!

galya · 07-01-2006, 11:42 AM

That is super cool. Ever since I heard it on the fitcast I was like: finally, an official book stating what we do

I'll have it translated into Bulgarian if you and your publishers let me.

Ogedei · 07-01-2006, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost_Dog

Congratulations, Lou!

Pull that January '08 back to December '07, so men can give it as gifts to women!

Ah it dosen't matter when it comes out, you can always give gifts.

Women like to get gifts for no reason...

Although tread carefully and know your woman well. Getting her a workout book could explode in your face

Og.

Lost Dog · 07-01-2006, 12:24 PM

True. It's easier to do at Christmas, when it's just part of her haul. "It's not from me, it's from Santa!"

RacerBill · 07-01-2006, 12:24 PM

Great news!! I'm sure there are many who will rejoice over the death of the sculpt-n-tone pink dumbell "workout."

ambar · 07-02-2006, 01:37 AM

Fabulous news! Although I bet that making it as deliberately funny as NROL was inadvertently funny (to this female reader) is going to be hard work, I'm sure you're up to the challenge. :-)

Lou Schuler · 07-02-2006, 06:50 AM

Quote:

NROL was inadvertently funny

How was NROL inadvertently funny? I've been told by a few people that the deliberate jokes didn't work for them, but this is the first I've heard about unintentional humor.

LT Hebert · 07-02-2006, 07:04 AM

AWESOME! I can't wait!

LT Hebert · 07-02-2006, 07:09 AM

I've been meaning to ask, Jen, are those really your arms in your avatar pic? If so, {on my knees, bowing} I'M NOT WORTHY! I'M NOT WORTHY!

RedWifey · 07-02-2006, 08:47 AM

Great news! I will be so excited to read it (if Jack will quit poking my eyes...I think he's learning a new word--eye

).

I can't wait to bring it to the summit so I can get my copy autographed!

Great news and great team!

Jamie

kmwest · 07-02-2006, 09:15 AM

Sounds great, Lou... now maybe I can encourage my sisters and girlfriend to lift without them complaining about becoming "huge."

Lou Schuler · 07-02-2006, 09:52 AM

Quote:

now maybe I can encourage my sisters and girlfriend to lift without them complaining about becoming "huge."

What's funny about this -- and it's a point I hope to get across in the book, with deliberate or "inadvertent" humor -- is that women like your sisters and GF seem to have no concept of how hard it is for a guy to get huge. And that's with all the advantages of hormones and greater size and strength at the outset.

I mean, I've been lifting more than 35 years, and I have yet to get huge. And I don't want to think about how many years I lifted before I had moved beyond "skinny."

Women can certainly gain strength and muscle size, and the gains tend to be proportional to those of men, as I said. But two pounds of solid muscle in a month is a big, big achievement for a guy. For a woman starting out with half as much muscle weight, one solid pound is just as big an accomplishment.

If one pound of solid muscle makes someone "huge," we've truly entered the Twilight Zone of body image.

ambar · 07-03-2006, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lou Schuler

How was NROL inadvertently funny? I've been told by a few people that the deliberate jokes didn't work for them, but this is the first I've heard about unintentional humor.

I haven't time to reread it with pencil in hand, so forgive me for being less than specific. But some of the deliberate jokes are second-order funny to me -- that is, not funny in themselves, but "good lord, they talk like that to each other when we're not around? How cute. *snicker* *chortle* *flip page*".

On a different topic, my personal plea? Can we please, PLEASE keep the "honest, lifting weights will not turn you into a musclebound mini guy" rap to one chapter that I can skip over? Because if I have to read a reminder on every 3 pages I will explode. kthxbye.