Excellent for general well-being, but not serious weight training

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	• Strength Training for Women Joan Pagano DK ADULT, 2004 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 28 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Solid information here

This book is one of my favorite strength training books--but the "strength training card deck" has much the same info in a handier form.

Another 5 star review

This is a great entry or re-entry level book. I used it summer before last to prepare for a camping trip. At the time (alas) I had decent cardiovascular fitness but knew I wanted to improve upper body strength along with core and lower body fitness. I created a work out I could enjoy.

If you are new to weights, she has a very sensible approach to starting. The models are obviously strong women but no oiled, beef-cake type poses, no ultra-buffed bods. So indeed, if that's what you're looking for, this is NOT it.

Very nice emphasis on fitness for a lifetime. I'm going to have to take a look at the cards.

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Excellent for general well-being, but not serious weight training

Joan Pagano's first love is yoga, and it shows in the type of exercises in this book. She also appears to have a cross-disciplinary interest in physical therapy; I recognize several exercises (all excellent) which I learned from physical therapists in recovering from injuries.

I give Ms. Pagano an A+ for both clarity and variety. The book has clear descriptions of exercises, and excellent photos with a white dotted line showing the muscles each exercise is supposed to work. I was able to understand how to properly perform several stretches which had been unclear in other books. The variety is excellent, including many exercises for rubber resistance bands and for those big, fun, colorful stability balls. I was pleasantly surprised to find several pages on exercises for improving posture.

Where the book really shines is in providing a safe, approachable beginning for women who are either very out of shape or recovering from illness. For example, she de-scarifies the push-up, that ultimate symbol of military-grade fitness, by showing four less physically demanding variations in order of gradually increasing difficulty.

But I do have one major caveat: If you're hoping for a serious weight training book--which will help you build muscle--this is not the one. Ms. Pagano seems to seriously underestimate women's strength. Doesn't she know we lift grocery bags, babies and suitcases in airports? The section on push-ups, for example, fails to include the standard 'man's" push-up. I would think that working through the other four would be with a goal of getting there, to the most difficult one. Nowhere in the book does she ever show a barbell, and her choice of dumbbell weights (mostly 3-8 lbs, with a maximum of 15 pounds recommended once in the book for lat rows) is almost insulting. Three to five pounds might be okay for a beginner looking to learn proper form, but after a few weeks most women can lift a lot more. Lifting weights which don't challenge your muscles will just waste your time, and very likely lead to discouragement when you see no results.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for yoga and physical-therapy style exercises for general well-being and injury prevention. It would also be useful as an adjunct to a serious weight-training program found elsewhere--just take the weight recommendations with a grain of salt and listen to your body instead.

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Strength training for women

This is a good book for a women who wants to add strength training to her workout program. The pictures make it easy to follow and there notes of where to "feel it" offers a good way to know if you are doing the activity correctly. It offers programs at a glance which also helps to do the program once the moves are familiar. I use it in conjunction with a weight training workout CD (Denise Austin) so that I really understand the best way to make my workout successful and the time well spent. This is also a DK books which are generally well done and easy to follow.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

With heart disease and diabetes topping the list of health hazards for women, strength training effectively reduces the risks by burning calories and bringing down body weight. Featuring two programs for all ages and levels of ability, Strength Training for Women offers a sensible, workable plan that every woman can follow for life, whether at home or in the gym.

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