I received a gift in the mail from Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove. They sent me their recent book, The New Rules of Lifting for Abs.
Great Bathroom Reading
This book made it quickly to my bathroom reading list.
You know what I mean:
What is the book that sits on your toilet’s water tank for you to enjoy during your first morning “squat”?
Know-it-Alls
If you have been in the fitness industry for any time, you will have heard of Lou and Alwyn.
Few people in the industry have read, watched DVDs, attended courses, or been in conference sessions as much as these two guys. The cool thing is that they still admit to not knowing it all.
These two guys could say they know it all, and they don’t. They keep learning, re-learning, and searching out nuggets of information or new ways of looking at things.
That is very cool to see, a big lesson for me, and something we should all follow.
In addition, they keep sharing what they have learned with fitness professionals and people worldwide with their The New Rules of Lifting series.
These Guys are Messed Up
I also like the fact that Lou and Alwyn are messed up.
They are not perfect and have been slowed down by injuries over the past 10 to 30 years.
They talk about their chain of injuries:
- hernia
- knee pain
- calf tear
We all have had injuries.
We may have forgotten about them, but often they are hiding under the surface, just waiting to reappear – unless they are fully dealt with.
Addressing the core is one of those keys to entirely dealing with injuries.
Conditions Leading to a Weak Spine
Over the last few weeks, I have sat down to enjoy the book.
I like the dry humor with getting to the point quickly.
Since I have taught core training courses since 1999, I am always open to hearing, seeing, and applying a new concept to the core – significantly since abs and core training research have drastically changed over the last 20 years.
I liked how they highlighted some conditions that lead to a weak spine:
- arthritis
- weakness in key muscles
- muscle imbalances among several muscles responsible for opposing movement patterns
- poor coordination among the core muscles
- muscles that simply don’t work the way they’re supposed to
If you have these conditions or see them in your clients, it is something you need to address to prevent and overcome a lower back injury.
In the book, they go through their dynamic warm-ups, core training, strength training, and metabolic workouts.
Good and the Bad About Core Training
Here is Lou chatting about core training, -New Rules of Lifting for Abs:
I am getting near the end of the time that I have to write this blog post, so let me get to the point.
The Last Word
- I would recommend checking this book out.
- I liked it.
- Learned from it.
- I will be using many of the exercises in my workouts.
- I will be going to the book store and checking out their other books.
Thanks, Lou and Alwyn.
I have run out of time, but I am not done with this book. And I took it for a test workout yesterday in the gym.
I will put up a blog post very soon on how it went.
Thanks for reading. Have a great New Year, and I will talk to you in 2011.
Rick Kaselj, MS
