Product Description

When we set our sights on weight loss, most of us turn to the kind of activities that get the heart pumping, like running, swimming or aerobics. While there is no doubt that cardiovascular activity is an important part of the equation, strength training with weights is the key to helping you shed pounds, and make sure you keep excess body fat at bay - permanently. How strength training affects your muscles depends on a number of factors - most importantly, the way you train (in terms of frequency, weight, number of reps and sets) and also what other physical activity you do, your diet and your technique. "Weights for Weight Loss" shows you how to incorporate all this, safely and effectively, into your fitness regime. It also gives a foundation workout so that you don't do yourself serious damage, by rushing into the gym when you have never lifted weights before; and it offers 'targeted toning' for problem areas, such as bums and thighs; and gives all the information you need to make smart eating choices without feeling deprived. You won't believe what difference strength training will make to your weight loss efforts and your body shape and size.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #315489 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
A really useful guide…a must for anyone who wants to get to grips with weight training-not just for weight loss but also for the all-round health benefits. --Health & Fitness

Simple effective exercises. --Tesco Healthy Living

About the Author
Sam Murphy is one of the UK's leading fitness writers. She contributes regularly to newspapers and magazines including the Sunday Times, the Independent, the Daily Mirror, the Express, Shape, Zest, Health & Fitness and Healthy. A qualified personal trainer with a first class degree in Sport and Exercise Science, she also runs her own fitness training consultancy, Personal Best, through which she provides exercise assessments, programmes and personal training. Sam's previous books for Kyle Cathie, Run for Life and The Real Woman's Personal Trainer, have been translated into nine languages and sold over 100,000 copies worldwide.

Customer Reviews

Good all-rounder - informative & inspiring...
This is a really cool and inspiring book. The writer strikes an excellent balance between factual information and practical advice and the book is written in a way that gets you interested from the start and then keeps you motivated.

I already have a few of this type of fitness book and this one is especially good because it provides a lot of background information about the benefits of weight training for women which I found to be informative and enjoyable to read. It covers various things like crucial info on muscle development and how to get the most out of your workout including tips and advice on what to eat and how much training to do. You can tell that the writer knows what she's talking about but she never preaches - I have read fitness books in the past where the writer is quite judgmental and 'preachy' and this can be quite off-putting. Here you really get the feeling that Sam Murphy understands you and is providing you with support.

I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking to start doing any kind of resistance work at home or at the gym. However, as complimentary as I have been, I also want to point out a few downsides about the book (without which I would have given the book 5 stars). Firstly, let me begin by saying that when I purchased this book, I was actually looking for something that would just be filled with exercises I could follow. The book does indeed contain these (you get exercises with free weights, gym equipment and exercises you can do using your own body weight and things like chairs and resistance elastic bands) so the detailed factual/background info (for me) was a pleasant and welcomed surprise.

The problem though is that for a book like this, there are really some things missing. For example, it doesn't talk about how much weight to start lifting as a beginner or give any indication of how much to increase by and when. The book also talks about diet and calorie intake but provides an incomplete calculator - according to the book I only need around 850 calories a day and then you are supposed to figure out yourself how many calories to add on to take account of various activity and exercise you actually do. I really feel like some kind of activity/calorie chart here would have been helpful or failing this a more practical formula at least!

The other thing I was really disappointed about was that although there are about 65 pages (out of 160) devoted to actual exercises, there is NO information on number of repetitions to do. I really feel some kind of guidance is necessary here - a mini training schedule would have sufficed - perhaps showing that as a beginner you might start with 12 reps and then progress by adding 4 more reps and/or increasing weight. The fact that this info isn't there just means that you have to use other resources (other books, internet etc) to find out what you should be doing!

In conclusion, if you are looking for a book that will give you a training schedule that you can follow, don't buy this book as the information is incomplete. If however you are looking for a thorough and inspiring book that imparts lots of wisdom about the benefits of weight training, provides you with tips about diet and gives you ideas about the kind of exercises you can incorporate into your routine, then this book is great. Overall worth buying I think!