Product Description

Tone up, burn calories and create a fabulous feminine body with this step-by-step manual to strength training. Features exercises to help you shape up without the bulk and benefit you in the fight against osteoporosis and the ageing process. Whether at home or at the gym, a variety of workouts will ensure you can build and maintain good muscle shape for lasting health.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19955 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From the Publisher
From Publishers Weekly
A personal trainer in NYC's Upper East Side, Pagano has dedicated the past 16 years of her life to passing her knowledge and passion for fitness on to other women in the hopes of helping them improve their lives and prevent common diseases like osteoporosis. Her first offering in the crowded self-help fitness genre succeeds impressively well as a resource for women of all ages looking to improve their overall health. Like a good personal trainer should, she begins with a three-part fitness test and questionnaire to assess whether the reader should consult a doctor before beginning her program. For true beginners, she provides an anatomy chart that depicts the major muscle groups and the exercises that are best suited to them. She dispels fitness myths like "lifting weights will bulk you up" and "you can spot reduce," and talks about the risk factors, exercise guidelines and restrictions of osteoporosis. Best of all for novices, many of Pagnano's beginner exercises require no!
special equipment, relying instead on everyday fixtures like chairs, walls and kitchen countertops. (More advanced exercises use free weights, stretch bands and stability balls.) The color photos, diagrams and clear explanations make the exercises easy to follow, and Pagano provides full training programs for improving posture and strengthening the lower, upper and core muscles of the body. This book may be one of the best substitutes for pricey gym memberships and personal trainers.
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About the Author
Joan Pagano has worked as a personal fitness trainer in New York for over 15 years. As fitness consultant to SHARE - a breast cancer support group - she has worked with breast cancer survivors and through this work she studied how exercise could help fight osteoporosis. She is also Director of the Marymount Manattan College Personal Fitness Trainer Cerification Programme. Joan lives in the US.

Customer Reviews

at last! the guide to a safe, effective, satisfying workout
At last! a 'how to', 'what to', 'when to' and 'why' guide to a safe, effective, and satisfying workout. I've been teaching in an academic certification program for fitness instructors for 12 years and have finally found a fact-based guide to recommend to my friends, students and all my private clients even with their varying levels of fitness. The feedback has been enthusiastic.
The book is so well-organized, cross referenced, and beautifully illustrated - and therefore, easy to use to achieve the desired benefits. Thank you, Joan Pagano, for writing Strength Training for Women.
Each exercise is depicted with clear step-by-step directions and accompanying photos that illustrate the targeted muscles being worked in both the programs offered: 1) the shaping and toning program and 2) the bone-building program. There are basic and advanced variations for most of the exercises.
The “4 Exercises for Life” in the beginning of the book teach you how to handle your own body weight before you begin adding resistance. The complete repertoire of exercises includes a variety of types of resistance - free weights, stretch bands and tubes, stability and medicine balls – as well as gym-based options. It’s the perfect book for someone to use at home, but will cover you at the gym as well.
The book includes a good balance of exercises for full-body conditioning – upper body, lower body and core – as well as a broad selection of appropriate stretches. Because the book is structured to provide a good progression for both building and advancing an exercise program, you don’t need another book when you are ready for more. This book has it all!

The only book you will need - complete motivation!
I always read reviews for the books before I buy and in fact the 2 positive reviews for this book were the reason I bought it.
I have been working out sporadically for the last 8 years and have at times found it difficult to keep motivated when it comes to weight training.
This book is absolutely brilliant. From the introduction to the workouts provided it is interesting and easy to follow. For the FIRST TIME I have been training consistently 3 times a week for the last 6 months and I can honestly say I have seen changes in my body that 8 years of aerobics and cardio has never been able to do.
You do of course have to eat well and partake in some cardio training but this programme has been so good I have religiously followed it and will continue to do so.
The best workout book I have ever bought. If you only buy one, buy this!!!!

excellent book, very helpful to me,
I have found this book to be very helpful to me in starting a home exercise program. The photos of the exercises are beautiful and the step-by-step instructions are very easy to follow. There are even visual cues as to where to feel the muscle that is working.

I wonder if a previous reviewer had the right book in mind, b/c this book is all about the exercises and doesn't address nutrition. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the proper form and technique of strength training.