There are few books out there that I can point to and say, “Wow, that book really made a difference in my life!”  The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove is one of those books.  I know that may sound a bit melodramatic but it absolutely and completely changed my lifting paradigm. 

Lou Schuler mixes just the right amount of humor, real-life stories, nutritional information, fat loss and muscle building theories into the meat of the book and Alwyn Cosgrove creates some of the most brutal workouts I’ve done in my life!  There are enough workouts in this book alone to keep you busy for a year and put you in the best shape of your life.  Alwyn breaks the workouts down to three sections: Fat Loss, Hypertrophy, and Strength.  Each workout is designed to produce these results.

When I first started weight training, someone asked me what education or training I had in workout design.  My response was, “None.”  His reply?  “Then why are you trying to create your own when there are some very effective workouts created by knowlegable experts with the education and background to get the results you’re looking for?”

He had a point.

Not only do Lou and Alwyn give you the workouts but they also give you the theories behind them so you can become educated in the methods they use.  For example:  the more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn.  Why would you want to do bicep curls which effects about 2% of your muscle mass when you can do squats which work over 200 muscles in your body? 

Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned gym rat, there is something in this book for everyone.  Shortly after New Rules of Lifting (NROL for short) was released, there was a request for a women’s version.  Lou and Alwyn complied with the request and released New Rules of Lifting for Women.

If you’re interested in checking out either of these, I have linked them below: